Ashes to Ashes
by Axelrocks
Summary: Sequel to Snake. They were together, they were happy. Nothing could destroy the life they had made for themselves. Until the dead began to rise and feast on human flesh. Now, they are on the run and their future no longer certain. At least, they still have each other.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my sequel! :D I am so excited to be finally writing this and posting it. I hope you all are as excited to read it. If any of you read Haitus80's stories(if you don't, then you TOTALLY should) you may have noticed that her sequel is called Dust to Dust. We did this on purpose. Our stories are NOT related, we just thought the names were cool and since we're such good friends we decided to be weirdos and do it this way. I am not ashamed of our oddness.**

**I also want to warn you all, that this story will be more angst filled than Snake. It won't be happening for a couple chapters, but I just wanted to warn you all ahead of time. For now, though, our favorite couple is happy and enjoying life. :)**

**Now, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Three months after Merle and Maggie's wedding, Daryl found himself sitting in his Ford pickup clutching a small box in his hands in his oil-stained hands. Carol and him had been together for five years, known each other for ten, and he thought it was about time that he took the next step in their relationship.

If Merle could get himself hitched, then so could he.

The phone in his pocket began to vibrate and some song from some band he didn't know but Carol loved, blasted through the speakers. He jumped and cursed when he nearly dropped the box and its precious contents on the floor.

Finally, he fumbled the phone out of his pocket and answered it with one hand. He didn't even pause to see who was calling.

"Hello?" He grumbled. He hated talking on the fucking phone, but Carol had insisted they got ones since they both had jobs now.

"Hello, _darlin'._" Carol. He would know that voice anywhere, even if she tried to make it sound huskier. Like she was doing now.

"Is there somethin' ya want, _honey?_" He grimaced at the pet name. Normally, he would never call her that but she would also never call him 'darlin' '.

"Oh, I don't want anything. Just wondering why you're still sitting in your truck. Are you afraid of coming in? Sick of me already?"

Looking through the windshield, he saw her standing in front of the big window in their tiny living room, with the curtains pulled back. He couldn't see her face, just a silhouette of her body. He fucking loved that body.

"Naw, I can never get sick of ya, woman." He knew that she had been teasing, but decided he would reassure her. "'Sides, you're the only woman who would put up with my stubborn ass."

"Good." She laughed. "Now, get in here. I have supper ready and on the table."

"Dessert?" He smirked.

"I'll see what I can cook up, Dixon." Her voice took on that husky tone again and then she hung up.

Daryl quickly stuffed the small box in his pocket, patted it once to make sure it was there before he opened the door to his truck and stepped out.

There house, if he used Carol's words, was a cute one story house. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen, living room and a little alcove that held the washer and dryer. They had been renting it for six months now, since both of them had jobs and could afford it.

Carol had just graduated college and had gotten a job as a third grade teacher right away. He had gone to a local trade school to become a mechanic. After two years, he had graduated, got a job at the local garage and within a four month period, he had become Charlie's, his boss's, right hand man.

They had been dating for five years and the moment Carol had graduated; they had decided that they were ready to move in together. So, they had found a small house for rent, sat down and calculated how much they would be making with their combined incomes and finally agreed that they could afford it.

Daryl already felt like him and Carol were married. The ring in his pocket was evidence he wanted to make it official. He had been in love with her for years, even before they had become a couple and after seeing how happy Merle and Maggie had been on their wedding day Daryl knew that marriage was the next step for him.

Walking through the door, he stepped out of his work boots and looked down at his oily jeans and hoped Carol wouldn't make him change before he could sit down at the table. He was starving.

Carol had her back to him in the kitchen and was stirring something in a tall metal pan. The table was a few feet to her right and was already set up for their meal. Maybe he could sneak past her and sit in his seat. She wouldn't be able to see his pants, then.

"Daryl Dixon." Her voice was stern.

Daryl stopped, looked at her and saw that her back was still too him. How had she heard him? He was making sure he was being stealthy, like he was in the woods stalking a buck.

"Um, yes?" He answered and cringed at how suspicious he sounded. She was good at reading his tone of voice.

"Are those jeans dirty?" Still her back was to him.

"Um, no." Maybe he could make a run for it.

"Change them."

"But, I said they wasn't dirty." He argued.

She faced him then, her eyes raking across his form and paused on his legs. "You forget that I know you, Daryl." She smirked. "Now, go change. I'll fill your plate before you come back."

"Fine." He grumbled and stalked to his room.

Daryl continued to grumble as he walked into the room he and Carol shared. This was a normal occurrence for them and he supposed he should probably start getting use to it.

Walking to his side of the bed, which was closest to the window, he began unbuttoning his pants and slid them down his legs. He stepped out the puddle of jeans and reached for his pajama bottoms on the bed. He stripped off the sleeveless shirt and threw it into the hamper by the door.

The shower was calling his name, but he didn't really feel like taking one. Not like he had the time, anyway. Supper was ready. If he hadn't spent those ten minutes in his truck turning that little box in his hands, he would be clean right now.

The box! How could he forget about that? Fishing it out of his pocket, he opened one of the drawers of his night table and placed it in there carefully.

"Daryl!" Carol called. "You coming?"

It sounded like her voice was coming closer, so he slammed the drawer shut, steadied Neil the Snake before he could fall off and was out the door.

He nearly ran into Carol.

"There you are." She smiled, openly admiring his naked chest and only briefly glanced at the long scar over his collarbone.

He wasn't ashamed of his scars anymore; Carol had made sure of that. The first time they had made love, she had kissed the one on his chest before they both drifted off to sleep.

"I was jus' makin' sure I put all my damn clothes in the hamper." He complained.

"About time you learned how to use that thing." She smiled and stepped closer to him. Her nose wrinkled.

"What?" He asked.

"You stink." She took a step back.

"Of course, I do." He rolled his eyes. "I haven't had time to take a damn shower and I'm starving, so I ain't takin' one now."

"Well, I hope you take one before you climb into bed with me." She crossed her arms and looked stern.

"And if I don't?" He smirked.

Carol turned to leave, but threw over her shoulder. "I heard the couch is pretty comfortable."

Daryl didn't say anything to that. Instead, he took one long stride, wrapped one arm around her and pressed her back to his front.

"I'll only take a shower," he trailed kisses down her neck. "If ya join me."

"Hmm," she tilted her head and gave him more room to work on. "I did work up a sweat dealing with my students today. A shower does sounds tempting."

"Of course, it sounds temptin', woman. I'll be in it with ya." He spun her around and smirked before he kissed her on the mouth.

Carol pushed him away before the kiss could get deeper. "Our supper is going to get cold if we don't stop." She pressed a finger to his lips. "And don't you say 'fuck supper', Daryl Dixon. I slaved over that stove for an hour."

"Fine." He scowled. "But don't get mad at me if I start shovelin' food in my mouth." He walked past her and into the kitchen. Carol just sighed and shook her head at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

God, she loved him.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Daryl had managed to fill his stomach and was working to satiate his _other_ hunger. He had practically dragged Carol to the bathroom the moment she had swallowed her last bite and ignored her protests about cleaning off the table and doing the dishes.

They would still be there when they were finished.

The water was cold when they both stepped in the tub, but Daryl quickly warmed them up by pulling her close and giving her a searing kiss. He could kiss Carol all day.

Once the water warmed up some, Carol pulled away, grabbed her bottle of shampoo and turned her back to him so she could lather up her hair.

"You know, Daryl." She smiled, when she felt his hand wrap around her abdomen and started trailing upwards to her breasts. "The point of a shower is to get clean."

"I know." He waited until she rinsed all the shampoo from her hair, before he pulled her close and placed an open mouth kiss to the underside of her ear. She loved it when he did that and it made her knees weak.

"Well, then help me get clean." She pressed a bar of soap into his hand. "Then," she looked over her shoulder and looked at him through heavy lids. "I'll help you."

He fucking loved showers.

* * *

The water turned cold before they got out, but Daryl wasn't satisfied yet.

"Can I at least get dry, Daryl?" She whined when he picked up and carried her to the bedroom.

"I need ya now, woman." He almost growled as he pulled back the comforter and sheets on their bed, before he laid her down.

Looking down at her, his breath hitched. She looked so beautiful lying there. Her skin still glistened with water and even though her dark hair was wet and stuck to her face, he still wanted to run his hands through it.

Not a day went by where he didn't consider himself lucky to come home to her.

She scooted her body back until her head was fully on the pillow and then reached out to him with a bright smile. He took no time in joining her.

Carol wrapped her hands around his neck and opened her mouth to his searching tongue. He moaned into her mouth when she wrapped one leg around his waist and pulled him closer so more of their bodies were touching.

She felt _him_ on her stomach and that wasn't where she wanted him to be. So, she shifted her body, tilted her hips just so, and threw her head back in pleasure when he finally sank into her.

Daryl took the opportunity to kiss a trail down her neck to her collarbone, but other than that, he was still.

"Daryl!" She whined.

"Yes?" He smirked. He knew _exactly_ what he was doing.

"Move." She hissed.

He happily obliged.

* * *

Early the next morning, the screeching of Daryl's alarm clock awakened the couple. Daryl rolled to his back and slammed his hand on the off button.

"Daryl." Carol whined from beside him, her eyes opened into little slits. She wasn't ready to get up. "Do you have to go to work?"

Giving her a quick kiss, he got out of the bed. "Yeah," he answered and headed towards their shared closet. He was still naked. "Charlie is still sick and he needs me to come in today and work on the payroll."

Carol sat up and rubbed her eyes. She didn't even bother to cover up her own nakedness and instead climbed out of bed.

Wrapping her arms around Daryl's waist, she pressed her cheek against his back and kissed one of the scars there. "He's been sick for a couple days. Has he gone to the doctor?"

"Naw, you know Charlie. He ain't gonna go to the doctor unless he's coughin' up blood or some shit like that."

Carol nodded and took a step back to allow him to get dressed. She watched him in silence, marveling at the muscles in his arms and back.

He slipped on a pair of his work jeans and a ragged, sleeveless green shirt. Grabbing a pair of socks from his dresser drawer, he walked to the edge of the bed to pull them on his feet.

"Are ya goin' to get dressed?" He glanced up at her briefly.

"Nope," she smirked. "I think I'm going to lie around naked all day. Maybe it'll help you come home faster."

Daryl stood up and pulled her close. "You're gonna make me not want to leave the house." He growled into her neck.

Carol slipped a hand beneath his shirt, her cool fingers trailing upwards. "Then, don't." She whispered.

He pulled away from her, reluctantly. "Can't. I got work to do. I'll be home around three." He walked past her.

"What am I going to do until then?" She pouted.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe ya can grade some papers." His eyes raked over her body. "But I think ya might wanna get dressed before then." With a final smirk, he was gone.

* * *

_**If any of you reviewed for Snake and you haven't gotten a thank you message from me, don't worry I haven't forgotten you. There was just a lot of you that reviewed and I still have to message A LOT of you. I ain't complain', though. I love you guys! :D**_

_**Thanks for reading! **_


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I was overwhelmed with the response I got for the first chapter! I'm glad so many of you are liking this so far and I hope you like this chapter just as much! This chapter is going to let us know how Merle and Maggie are dealing with married life! :)**

**For all of you wondering where Andrea and Milton are, don't worry, they are still together and they will be making an appearance in the next chapter! :)**

**Now, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Merle Dixon couldn't believe that he was a married man and had been one for three months. He always thought he would live his life as a bachelor and sleep around with countless women. Not once did he think he would fall in love with a woman and spend the rest of his life with her.

Then Margaret Anne Greene had stepped into his life and soon, with her fire and spunk, he found himself falling fast and hard.

Even after five years of being together, he never thought he'd get married until her father had talked to him. Hershel liked him, but made it quite clear that Merle better marry his daughter. A month after the talk, he had bought a ring and a month after that he had proposed.

Now, three months later, he found himself waking up everyday to the same beautiful woman. He was quickly getting use to it.

Except this morning, when he opened his eyes and expected to see his wife, he found an empty bed. She never got up without him and if she did, she would wake him up before leaving. So, where was she?

He sat up and looked around. His eyes landed the shut door across the hall. The bathroom. She had to be in there. Maybe she was taking a shower.

With a mischievous smile, he climbed out of bed and walked across the hall to the door. Instead of hearing the shower going, he heard someone retching.

He opened the door slowly and was surprised to see Maggie curled up by the toilet. She was pale and clutched her stomach.

"Maggie?" He was quickly kneeling by her side.

She gave him a smile. "Sorry, I didn't wake you up." She shifted and had her hand leaning against his shoulder. "I just wasn't feeling well and I came in here...and you know." She gestured to the toilet.

He placed the back of his hand against her forehead. "Ya don't feel hot."

"I think it might be something I ate last night." She gripped the edge of the tub and his shoulder and stood up. Her legs were slightly wobbly, so Merle wrapped an arm around her waist and led her back to bed.

Easing her down on the sheets, he asked. "Is there anythin' ya want me to get ya?"

"Maybe some tea?" She smiled up at him. "That might help with my stomach."

"Alright." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back. Don't ya move, ya hear?"

"Yes, sir." She gave him a mock salute and watched him leave the room.

In their modest kitchen, Merle began searching the cupboards for a mug and tea. He made her tea several times before, but never drank any himself. He preferred coffee as his morning drink.

He spotted the box of her favorite tea, grabbed a bag and moved to get some water boiling on the stove. Once he had the water on the stove, he leaned against the counter, his brow furrowed in thought.

Maggie hadn't complained of an upset stomach last night. Not even several hours after their meal, when they had sat on the porch and watched the sky.

They had had fried chicken and mashed potatoes, a meal Maggie had cooked several times, and he found it odd if she had gotten sick over that. There was no explanation for her sudden illness.

Unless...

"Fuck!" He stood straight up and nearly knocked the mug off the counter to the tiled floor below.

It couldn't be... They had been careful... They weren't ready for this. They had only been married for three months, for Christ's sake!

Rushing across the kitchen, he grabbed the phone from the wall and dialed a number he knew by heart.

_"Hello?"_ A gruff and slightly annoyed voice answered on the other end.

"Daryl?" Merle spoke, his voice full of panic and he gripped the phone hard in his hand. "I think Maggie's pregnant!"

* * *

"The hell ya tellin' me for?" Daryl growled into the phone. He had just been about done with adding up the payroll when his brother had called.

_"I don't know what to fuckin' do."_

"And I do?" Daryl put down the pen he had been holding, leaned back in his chair and prepared for a long conversation. "Carol's on the pill. We ain't got nothin' to worry about over here."

_"She's on the fuckin' pill, too!"_ His voice was getting frantic.

"Maybe she forgot to take it one day."

_"Naw, she doesn't forget. She knows how much we-"_

"Okay," Daryl interrupted him. "I don't need to know. Plus, I don't know why you're freakin' out. The two of ya are married. Her daddy ain't gonna come after ya with a shotgun cuz ya knocked his daughter up." Daryl smirked at the image of Merle being chased by Hershel Greene. "In fact, the man will probably give ya ass a hug."

_"I ain't ready to be a daddy!" _He nearly shouted.

"None of us are ready to be daddies." Daryl rolled the pen underneath his hand.

_"The hell, baby bro! Can't ya act like yer at least a little __bit__ concerned?"_ Merle sounded angry, now.

"Fuck, Merle, I am concerned, but what the hell do ya want me to do?" He sat up straighter in his chair. "I don't know anythin' about raisin' a baby. 'Sides, do ya know for sure she's pregnant? Has she takin' a test yet?"

There was a pause. _"She hasn't taken a test, yet. Maybe she ain't really pregnant."_ He sounded hopeful.

"She could still be pregnant. In fact, it's probably the case if she's gettin' sick in the morning and shit." Daryl couldn't help but smirk when he said it.

_"Shit."_ Merle cursed. _"Well, I'm gonna go. We're gonna buy one them fuckin' tests as soon as I can and we'll see what's goin' on."_

"Alright. Let me know the result." Then the brother's hung up with each other.

Daryl smirked at his phone, before he set it down on the desk. Poor Merle. He didn't know what the hell to do. It was funny to see him so unsure. It was so unlike how his brother normally acted. But Daryl didn't think he had any reason to freak out. Merle would make a good daddy. It was true, they hadn't had the best example of a good father growing up, but they at least knew what _not _to do when raising a child.

He fingered the ring box in his pocket. Hopefully, it would be awhile before he and Carol had kids. He wanted a few more years of being with just her, before they started a family.

* * *

Merle carried the steaming cup of tea into the bedroom and walked over to Maggie's side of the bed. She had been dozing while he was gone, but her eyes opened when he heard him set the cup on the table next to her head.

"How ya feelin'?" Kneeling next to the bed, he grabbed her hand and asked.

She gave him a smile. "Much better. My stomach doesn't hurt so much anymore." She sat up more in the bed and released his hand, to get her tea.

"Careful," Merle warned. "It's hot."

She took a sip and winced. "You were right." With one hand on the handle, she set the cup back down and leaned her head back against the headboard.

"Merle?" She asked, eyes closed.

"Yeah?" He looked up from picking at the edges of the blanket.

"Do you think I would make a good mom?" She looked at him, then, with her green eyes searching his.

He looked startled. "'Course. What makes ya think that ya wouldn't?" He grabbed her hand again.

She shrugged. "I don't think I wouldn't." Her gaze went to look out the window above Merle's head.

"Then why ya askin' me if ya would make a good momma, if ya already know ya would be?"

She looked down at him, expression unreadable. "I heard you in the kitchen." She smiled at his horrified face. "It would be hard not too."

"So, ya heard everythin' I said?"

She nodded. "Why do you think that you wouldn't be a good dad, Merle? Yeah, you're a little rough around the edges, but that's what makes you who you are. I think you would make a great father."

"Do ya remember, Buck?" He asked. Nothing could make him call that man his pa. True, he was flesh and blood, but that man was no longer part of his family.

"Yeah, I do."

Buck Dixon had been rotting in a jail cell for the past five years, serving a drug possession charge. If anyone had asked Maggie, she would tell them that that man deserved to be in jail for the rest of his life for the way he treated his sons. When Marc Spencer, Carol's dad, had kicked his ass all those years ago, she had itched to get a punch in herself.

"He's the only example of a daddy that I've ever had." Merle continued and didn't look at her.

"Merle," she placed a hand on his cheek and forced him to look at her. "You aren't like your daddy at all. You hear me? If you were, I would have never married you."

He nodded, but didn't look convinced. "So, are ya tellin' me you're pregnant, then?"

Her hand slipped from his face. "I don't know if I'm pregnant. When I woke up this morning, I really thought I was sick. Being pregnant never crossed my mind, until I heard you in the kitchen."

"You're still on the pill, right?"

She nodded. "And I haven't missed a day since we've gotten married. I agreed with you when you told me you wanted to wait a little while before we started to have children."

"Then ya can't be pregnant." He let a little bit of hope squeeze into his voice.

"Yeah, I can." And just like that the hope was gone. "Even with birth control, there is still a small chance I can get pregnant."

He frowned. "Well, fuck."

"We'll just have to go to the store, later and get a test."

"Later?"

"Yep." She nodded. "Right now, I just want to cuddle with my husband. Now, get your butt up here, Mr. Dixon."

Thoughts of babies were momentarily put to the side and Merle smiled. "Of course, Mrs. Dixon."

* * *

Even with the unplanned phone call from his brother, Daryl had been able to get the payroll done and changed the brakes in Mrs. Hudson's old car early.

So, just after one, Daryl strode into his house and immediately went looking for Carol. Maybe she would still be in bed...naked.

Checking the bedroom, he found that she wasn't there.

"Carol?" He called out, hoping she was somewhere else in the house.

"In here!" She called back, her voice coming from the direction of the bathroom.

The sound of someone moving around in water grew louder the closer he got to the bathroom door. She was taking a bath.

He turned the knob and opened the door. His eyes immediately went to the leg that was peeking out of the tub. It was nice and smooth, like she had just shaved it. All he wanted to was run his hand over the smooth skin.

"You're home early." The leg disappeared into the water and she peeked around the curtain that had only been half pulled.

At the sight of her wet, naked body, he felt his pants tighten. Once she got out, it looked like he would be taking a cold shower.

"Yeah," he finally managed to say. "Turns out I didn't have much to do."

"That's good." She crossed her arms on the edge of the tub, rested her head on them and looked up at him.

"Figured ya would be happy." He closed the lid of the toilet and sat down on it. "So, why ya takin' a bath anyways?"

She rarely took baths. She took showers and most of the time, he was in there with her.

She shrugged. "I finished grading papers and there was nothing else to do, so I decided to draw myself a bath. It's relaxing."

"It looks relaxin'." His eyes roamed over her.

"Join me."

His eyes snapped to hers. "Huh?"

"You heard me." She smirked and scooted forward. "Get in the tub with me. You can help wash my back."

Without another thought, he quickly shed his clothes, almost forgetting about his obvious arousal. He had never taken a bath with her before and the thought excited him. He knew this was more intimate than a shower.

Carol watched him undress, her eyes lingering briefly on his pelvic area, before they went back to his face.

With a smirk, he settled in behind her and placed his legs on the outer sides of her hips. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. His lips went to the favorite part of her neck. "This is nice."

She nodded.

For the first time in their relationship, they were naked together and weren't thinking about sex. All he was thinking about was how nicely she fit into his arms.

"Ya know, I love ya, right?" He whispered into her neck.

"Yeah." She turned her head and kissed him. "I love you, too."

* * *

"So, this is it." Maggie sighed and held the box with the pregnancy test in her hand.

"This is it." Merle peered over her shoulder at the box.

Together, her and Merle stood outside the bathroom door and stared at the box that had the power to change their lives.

"So, one line means ya ain't pregnant and two lines means ya are?"

She nodded. "Alright, I'm going too...you know." She stepped into the bathroom. Her eyes slightly watery.

"Hey," Merle cupped her cheeks. "No, matter what the thing tells us, I still love ya and if ya are pregnant, I'm gonna love that baby too."

A lone tear squeezed out of her eye and she nodded again . "Love you, too." Glancing down at the box again, she added. "I'll see you in five minutes." She closed the door on him, softly.

* * *

Maggie held her breath and watched the clock. Five minutes had never gone by so slow. One minute after she had peed on the stick, she had heard Merle sigh and slide his body down the wall. Two minutes after, she started to regret not having Merle in there with her but made no move to get him. Three minutes and her hands were shaking. Four and she was staring intently at the stick on the counter. Five minutes and she nearly was busting her ass to get the damn thing.

With a deep breath, she looked down.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**

**On a sad note, today, my family's tiny baby squirrel died. :(. On Monday we found this little squirrel right next to our house. We took him in and nursed him. We named him Daryl John. Daryl, because you all know why, and John because my sister's favorite character in Sherlock is John. He lasted 4 days before he passed away. He was such a healthy, lively thing and then, out of no where, he just stopped breathing. D': I dedicate this chapter to him. He was such a cute, little thing! I miss him so much. It's hard to believe how attached I got to him in only 4 days.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, here's the next chapter! I'm sorry for the little bit of a cliffhanger in the last chapter but you all will finally know if Maggie is pregnant or not in this one. Oh, and I have finally introduced Andrea and Milton! :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Two lines.

Andrea gripped the small stick hard, in her shaking hands. Three other sticks, just like the one in her hand, scattered the floor around her feet. They all told her the same thing.

Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant. _Pregnant._

She was pregnant.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she let the test fall to the ground with the others as she held her head in her hands.

She couldn't have a baby. Not now.

Her and Milton were just about to move into a two bedroom apartment in Atlanta that was closer to their schools. The spare bedroom was supposed to be used as their offices. A place where they could study. She was going to be successful lawyer and Milton was going to get his Masters in Biology and one day teach college students.

They didn't have time for a baby. They weren't _ready_ for one.

Someone knocked softly on the bathroom door. "Andrea?" It was Milton. "Are you alright?" At the sound of his voice, she quickly grabbed all the tests from the floor and shoved them back in the empty box.

"I'm fine." She called back. "I'll be out in a minute." She looked for a place to hide the box. She couldn't just throw it away, Milton would probably see it.

She wasn't ready to tell him, yet.

Opening the cabinet under the sink, she quickly shoved the tests behind the box of tampons she had down there. Milton would never look behind those.

She stood up and quickly splashed water on her face, so he wouldn't know that she had been crying. Wiping her face on the hand towel, she opened the door and found Milton still waiting there.

He pushed up his glasses and looked concerned. "Are you okay? You were in there for awhile."

"Oh, uh, yeah." She mentally slapped herself for sounding so nervous and suspicious. "I had to wash my face. I'm sorry, I took so long."

"It's alright." He looked unsure. "I was just wondering if you were feeling sick or something."

"I'm fine." She gave him a forced smile and hoped he couldn't tell it was fake.

"Okay," he straightened up and she noticed he held some clothes in his hands. "I'm going to take a shower. Did you want to join me?"

She did, but she didn't know if she could be that close to him right now and not break down and tell him about the baby. _Their _baby.

"I would love, too." She gave him a real smile this time. "But I have a case to look over before bed and I don't want to stay up late looking at it."

"Okay, I'll see you in bed, then." With a smile, he cupped her cheek and kissed her.

That night as she laid next to Milton, curled into his side, her hand drifted down to stomach and sighed with relief to find it still flat. But she knew it wouldn't be that way for long.

* * *

Maggie felt tears prick her eyes when she read the result of the test.

"Maggie?" Merle's voice called through the closed door. It was uncharacteristically soft and she knew that he only used that voice with her.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she answered him. "You can come in."

The door opened slowly and Merle poked his head around to lock gazes with her. His face paled instantly when he saw her tears. Within seconds he was next to her and cradling her in his arms.

"It's okay." He murmured into her hair. "We'll be fine. This baby is gonna be fine. We're gonna be the best fuckin' parents ever."

She buried her face in his neck and whispered. "I'm not pregnant."

"What?" He leaned away, so he could get a good look at her face. His blues eyes wide with shock. He had thought she'd been crying because the test had come out positive.

She smiled. "I said, I'm not pregnant. One line. See." She held up the stick to show him.

He was about to reach for it and then remembered that she had actually peed on it and retracted his hand.

"You're right." He breathed. "Jus' one line. I guess ya was just regular sick this mornin'."

She nodded against him and he felt a tear drip from her cheek to his chest. Shifting, he looked down at her. The smile was gone and tears were once again brimming in her eyes.

"Why ya cryin', now?"

Her arms tightened around him. "Is it bad that I'm happy I'm not pregnant, that I'm not bringing another human being into this world?"

"No!" Merle argued, surprised at what she had just told him. "That ain't bad at all, Maggie. We ain't ready for kids, yet."

She sniffled. "I do want to have children some day, though."

"I do, too." He smiled. "Our children would get my good looks and your stubbornness."

This earned a laugh from his wife. "More like the other way around, Dixon. They'll get my good looks and your bullheadedness."

* * *

Andrea sat at her desk and chewed her pen. Milton had gone out to get Chinese food and wasn't due home for a couple more minutes. It was the first time all day she had to herself.

It wasn't that she minded Milton, because she didn't, she loved him so much, but since she had found out she was going to have his baby she needed a little space. She needed to think.

How the hell was she going to tell Milton? She knew she would eventually. It was his child too and he had the right to know. Plus, in a few months it would get harder to hide it from him. But she knew, the moment she told him he would stop his studies to find a job. He had only one more year of school, but with another human being to support he would need to find a job.

Babies were expensive.

She supposed she could ask her dad for money, but he was already paying for their new apartment and she couldn't ask for more. Tears filled her eyes. How could she have been so stupid as to get pregnant? It was all her fault and she knew it.

A little over a month ago, she had ran out of her birth control pills, but it was also the same week she had a very important test to study for. All that week she had crammed and made trips to the library, but had forgotten to get more pills. The day she had gotten back the results of that test, her and Milton had celebrated. In bed.

Not once had the thought of pregnancy crossed her mind as she curled up against Milton's side that night, naked and satisfied.

Then a couple days later, she had suddenly remembered she hadn't had her period in a while and a shot of fear coursed through her. Without a word to Milton, she had rushed out of the apartment and practically ran to the nearest drug store.

Those four sticks had confirmed her worst fear.

"I'm back!" Milton announced from the doorway to their office." Are you hungry?"

Turning around, she gave him her best smile and subtly covered up the piece of paper she had been doodling pictures of bottles and cribs.

"I'm starving."

* * *

"So, Carol called me earlier." Andrea said over a plate of sesame chicken. "She wants to know when we're going to come down and visit."

Milton swallowed a bite of rice. "Well, classes end in a week and a half. We should be completely moved into our new apartment then. So, maybe in two weeks we can give them a visit."

She nodded. The last time she had seen her friend had been a couple months ago when they had gone down for Merle and Maggie's wedding. She still couldn't believe that the older Dixon was married.

Maggie was good for him, though.

"I wonder if Merle and Maggie have thought about having kids yet."

Andrea's fork clattered to her plate and she froze. Glancing up, she saw that Milton hadn't been looking at her when he had said it.

"Uh, I don't know." She finally said, her voice a little shaky. "It's been three months since they got married, I doubt Merle is done with having Maggie just to himself."

"You're probably right." Milton smiled. "A child is hard work and takes a lot of time and energy. I-I wouldn't mind having a child with you sometime in our future." He peeked at her, a blush creeping up his neck. "I know now wouldn't be a good time for one. With both of us still in school, it would be hard. "

With every word he said, the guilt piled on until it felt like she was suffocating. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to calm her breathing down. The Chinese food in her stomach felt heavy and knew that if she didn't calm down, she would throw it all up.

"I have a headache." She said suddenly and stood up. It was true, her head was pounding. "I'm going to take a shower and lie down."

"Okay." He looked like he wanted to say more to her, but instead he just sat there and studied her face. His eyes were narrowed slightly in confusion. He hadn't messed that she had been perfectly fine a few minutes earlier.

She fled the room before he could say anything more. The last thing she wanted was for him to ask what was wrong. There would be no way to explain her tears, if he did.

She softly shut the door to the bathroom and locked it. Ignoring herself in the reflection of the mirror, she turned on the water and quickly shed her clothes. Stepping under the scalding water, she winced but didn't move to cool it down.

Tears were already coursing down her face and her sobs were drown out by the sound of pouring water.

* * *

Milton stared at the empty seat his girlfriend just vacated. There was definitely something going on with her. She had been acting off for the past couple days and he didn't know why.

He tightened his grip on the fork he held. Was she getting bored of him? Was she acting strange because she wanted to break up with him?

It was only a matter of time, he supposed. She was beautiful, smart, kind and could have any man she wanted. In the five years they had been together, her eye never drifted to another man but he often wondered and worried that she would one day get sick of him.

He was awkward and shy. He wore glasses and didn't have the best sense of fashion. He never forgot an anniversary, but sometimes he would forget to ask about her day and sometimes didn't know how to comfort her when she was upset.

He heard the door to the bathroom open and seconds later he heard the door to their bedroom close. Did that mean he didn't want his company? She never acted this way before and he didn't know what to do.

His mind needed to be preoccupied. He needed something to do, maybe even someone to talk to. Daryl? Carol? Merle? Would they know what to do in this situation?

Milton cleaned up their meal, threw away the trash and washed, dried and put away the few dishes that were in the sink. It was getting late, but he didn't want to go to bed yet. He needed someone to talk to. So, he grabbed his phone and dialed a number. It rang a couple times before someone answered it.

"Hello, Merle?" He spoke into the receiver. "It's me, Milton."

_"Milty?__The hell, man. I ain't talked to ya since the weddin'."_ Merle said. _"So, do ya miss your ol' pal, Merle?"_

Milton smiled when he heard his friend's voice. It had been too long. "I have missed you, Merle. So, how's the married life?"

_"It's good." _The older Dixon chuckled. _"Me and Maggie did have a pregnancy scare, though. Almost thought I would have to trade in my__ fuckin'__ bike for a minivan."_

"Do you not want children, Merle?" Milton found a seat at the tiny table in their kitchen. He had called Merle for a reason, but didn't mind catching up with him. It had been, after all, three months since they had last spoken.

_"I do, jus' not yet. I ain't finished with havin' Maggie all to myself. Did ya know she's a real spitfire in bed?"_

Milton rolled his eyes. You weren't having a real conversation with Merle unless he mentioned sex. He supposed that wasn't true. Merle had come a long way in the past five years and Maggie was the one to thank for that.

He had not touched a single drug since Maggie and hadn't gotten into any fights.

_"There__'s __a reason __you __call__ed__ me, __isn't__ there?__ And it weren't jus' for a little chat.__"_

Milton started. It was odd for Merle to pick up on that so quickly and he felt slightly ashamed that his friend had caught on early that he hadn't called him just for a chat.

"Uh, yeah." He admitted.

_"Well, what are friends for? Now, tell me what's troublin' ya?"_

Milton sighed. "I think there's something wrong with Andrea. Her behavior has seemed a bit off these past couple days and she isn't telling me what's wrong."

_"Have ya guys gotten into a fight recently?"_

"No."

_"Did ya forget an anniversary?"_

"No."

_"Hmm, have ya proposed yet?"_

The question took Milton by surprise. "N-No."

_"The fuck, man!"_ Merle exclaimed in disbelief. _"Ya two have been together five years and ya ain't asked her to tie the knot, yet? Hell, my ass got married and I'm pretty sure Daryl's waitin' for the perfect time to pop the question to his woman."_

"I-I was going to wait until after I was done with school to ask her." He stuttered. "She knows I want to marry her someday."

_"Does she?"_

"Well, yeah, I tell her I love her all the time."

_"Sometimes that ain't enough. Maybe ya should tell__ her__ that ya can't wait to spend the rest of your life with her. Tell her ya plan on proposin' to her when you're done with school. Maybe she's thinkin' that ya don't plan on marryin' her."_

"Okay. I'll tell her that." Milton smiled. "Thanks for the advice." He laughed. "Who would have thought I would go to Merle Dixon for advice?"

_"Hey! I did just get married, so obviously I'm doin' somethin' right when it comes to women."_

"I guess you're right, Merle."

_"Ya guess?!"_

Milton chuckled. "Well, I'm going to let you go. Thanks again and hopefully me and Andrea will come up to visit soon."

_"About fuckin' time ya decide to visit."_

"So, I'll see you probably in a few weeks. Bye, Merle."

_"Bye, Milty."_ They both hung up.

Milton stared at the phone for a few seconds before he put it up. Merle was right. He needed to ask Andrea what was wrong. Needed to tell her that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to let her know that the moment he graduated he would get down on one knee and propose.

After they got married, they could have a family. There children would be smart _and _beautiful.

* * *

**So, how was it? For some reason, I wasn't too happy with this chapter. I hope you all liked it, though. I'm still not sure when the ZA will start, but it's going to be soon! And sorry for the lack of Caryl. But don't worry, they will be in the next chapter! I just wanted you all to know what Andrea and Milton were up too!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm sorry for the lack of Caryl in the last chapter, I just needed to let you all know what our other characters are doing with their lives now. I think that this chapter will make up for the last one! ;) It's all Caryl!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

That night, Carol laid awake with Daryl. Both of them talking softly to one another. Most nights they would do this until one of them fell asleep. Carol knew that she should be closing her eyes soon because she had school the next morning, but she liked to listen to Daryl's chest rumble as he talked.

At times, his voice could be rough. His accent sometimes got more pronounced when he was mad or excited. At night, though, his voice was soft and deep as he talked about his day. A hand would always brush along her spine as he talked and the touch was reassuring. It meant he was there with her and this wasn't some kind of dream.

"Merle called me the other day." Her lips curved up when she felt his chest rumble with the words.

"Yeah?"

"He was freakin' out."

Carol lifted her head to look at him. "Why? Is there something wrong with Maggie?"

"Naw." He shook his head. "He jus' thought that Maggie was pregnant." He was talking about it like it was no big deal.

"Pregnant? Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could have given her a call and asked how she was doing!" She sat up more in the bed.

"Hey," He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "It ain't no big deal. He told me he'd let me know if she was."

Carol snuggled back up to her boyfriend and placed her cheek back over his heart. "Well, is she?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. He hasn't called me back, yet. I figure she ain't otherwise he'd probably call me cryin' and tellin' I'm gonna be an uncle or some shit like that."

_And I'd be an aunt._ She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. It would be nice to have little Dixons running around. Even if they were going to be little Merle Dixons.

"He didn't think he would make a good daddy that was the main reason why he was freakin' out."

"He'd make a great father."

"That's what I told him. Don't know if he believed me or not. Our daddy was fucked up and we didn't learn any good shit from him." There was a hard tone to his voice as he talked about his father. "But ya best believe that if my brother has a kid, he's gonna treat 'em right and they're gonna have a great childhood."

She nodded. "I agree."

He settled more in the bed and tightened his grip on her. "Ya should get to sleep. Ya have children to teach in the mornin'. They ain't gonna learn nothin' if you're yawin' all day."

"I hate getting up early." She grumbled.

He chuckled. "Then why did ya become a fuckin' teacher?"

"June, July and August." She smiled.

He rolled his eyes. "Ya love them kids, that's why. Ya can't fool me, woman."

She moved her head until it was buried in the crook of his neck. "Come with me, tomorrow." She whispered.

"To your school? The hell? Ya want me to scare off them kids?"

"You won't scare them off, Daryl." She giggled. "I've just mentioned you a couple times and my students want to meet you before school lets out."

"I work early tomorrow, so I can't. Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all.

"How about Friday, then?" She wasn't going to give this up. "It's show-and-tell and I really, really." She nipped at his earlobe. "_Really_ want to show off my strong, handsome redneck man."

"Fine." He grumbled. "But I'm only doin' it cuz ya called me handsome."

* * *

The next morning, Carol's alarm clock went off early and she was tempted to just throw the thing at the wall. That was how she felt every morning, but teaching her students was worth all the early mornings. They were her first group of students and they would forever be special to her.

"Hey, ya gonna get your lazy ass up?" Daryl grumbled from his side of the bed. "Some of us don't have to get up for a couple more hours."

She wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but opted for rolling her eyes and climbing out of bed, instead.

"You know, a perfect boyfriend would make his girlfriend breakfast while she got ready." She pulled out clothes and looked over her shoulder.

"Well, good thing I ain't a perfect boyfriend." He growled before he flipped his body to the other side.

Carol huffed. Fine, if he wasn't going to be a good boyfriend this morning then she wasn't going to be a good girlfriend later tonight. Let's see how he liked that.

She quickly grabbed some clothes and headed towards the bathroom where she would get dressed, fix her hair and do her make-up. This was her routine every weekday. After slipping on simple black skirt that flared out a little at her knees and a nice light blue shirt, she looked at herself in the mirror and winced. She was having a serious case of bed head.

"Me and Daryl didn't even have sex last night." She muttered and grabbed a brush to straighten it out. It took her almost ten minutes to tame her hair and pull it back in a ponytail.

She did her make-up quickly and made her way to the kitchen. Maybe they still had a few granola bars to take with her to work; hopefully Daryl hadn't eaten them all.

Walking into the kitchen, she was surprised to see Daryl standing there with his back to her. She hadn't even heard him as he walked past the bathroom to get to the kitchen.

He turned around, a bowl of cereal in his hand and gave her a smile. "Breakfast." He slid the bowl in her spot, grabbed one for himself and sat down.

She sat down silently and dug in. It wasn't exactly the breakfast she had hoped he'd make for her but she was grateful for it anyway.

"Jus' thought I show ya, that I am a perfect boyfriend after all." Daryl smirked at her between bites of his food.

She returned the smirk. "You just didn't want to get cut off tonight."

His eyes widen in shock. "Ya was gonna cut me off? That's cruel."

Slurping up the rest of her milk, not minding that she looked like a slob in front of her boyfriend, he was use to it. She shrugged.

She stood up, grabbed both of their empty bowls and placed them in the sink. She would clean them later. Now, she was running a little late.

"I'll see you later." But before she could leave the kitchen, he had wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

"What about my good-bye kiss, woman?" Without waiting for an answer, he kissed her soundly.

It almost made her not want to leave. _Almost._

"I have to go." She pushed gently on his chest and stood up. "My students aren't going to teach themselves." She gave him another quick kiss. "I'll see you when you get home, okay?"

"Okay." He reluctantly let her go. This was their routine almost every morning. She'd get up for work; he'd moan and groan about having to get up, too but would eventually. Sometimes he would have something ready for her to eat, other times he didn't.

The one time he had tried to make her eggs and bacon, he had burnt them so bad they looked like pieces of charcoal. He had refused to cook her breakfast since. Instead, he would make her a bowl of cereal or press a granola bar in her hand.

"Charlie is still sick. I don't know if I'll have to stay a little later at work, today or not." He called after her.

She turned and pouted. "He's been sick for a week, Daryl. You should go to his house sometime and see if he's doing okay. Maybe you can convince him to go to the doctor."

He nodded. "Alright. If he ain't feelin' better in the next couple of days then I'll stop by to try and get him to go to the doctor."

"Good." She smiled. "Because with him being sick, means you have to work more and that's less time I get to see you." With a wink, she finally walked out of the kitchen.

She was definitely going to be late now.

* * *

Their small town had one small elementary school and it was on the other side of town. Opposite of their old high school. It was a one story brick building, with a small, fenced-in playground in the back. There was only ten classrooms. Each grade, kindergarten through fourth, had two classrooms and only about fifteen or so students in each.

Carol didn't mind the smallness of it. With fewer students to teach, she could spend more time with each one and learn what their strengths and weaknesses were. She loved her students and they loved her.

"Mornin', Ms. Spencer." A small blond girl named Emily greeted her when she walked into the door. She gave her a bright smile and returned the greeting.

Setting her stuff on the desk, she looked over at her classroom and noticed that all the desks were filled with eager students, except for one.

"Does anyone know where Shawn is?" She asked her class. It was rare when one of her students went missing when it wasn't flu season.

Emily raised her hand and nearly bounced out of her seat. Carol called on her.

"The other day my mommy was talkin' to his mommy and she said he was sick." With a bright smile, she lowered her hand.

"Hmm, alright." She checked his name off on the attendance sheet and then placed it back on her desk, so she could address her class again. "Everyone, do you remember what we did when Sam was sick?"

They all nodded their heads eagerly.

"We made him a 'Get Well Soon' card." Bending down, she opened one of the drawers to her desk and produced a large piece of yellow construction paper. "We're going to make one for Shawn, too!"

An hour later, Carol held up the large card proudly. It was full of smiley faces, hearts and 'get well soon's. All the students had signed the inside and Carol had written him a little note that said that everyone had missed him in class that day.

"He's going to love this!" She announced. "I'll deliver to him after school and tomorrow I'll let you all know what he says." She placed the card in a safe place on her desk.

"Now," she clapped her hands together to get their attention. "It's time for us to do some learning. Everyone get out your spelling book and turn to page 99, please." They all did as she requested, except for Emily, who had her hand raised again.

"Yes, Emily?"

"When are you gonna bring your boyfriend in?" She asked and many of the other students responded with 'Yeah's and 'I wanna meet him'.

"He has to be very handsome to have a pretty girlfriend like you, Ms. Spencer." said a brown-haired boy named James. She always suspected he had a crush on her.

"Do you really want to meet him?" When all of them responded with eager nods, she continued. . "Well, you all are in luck. He's agreed to be my show-and-tell on Friday!"

Her class cheered. If Daryl could see how excited they were to meet him.

"Is he gonna bring his crossbow? If he does, can I touch it?" Carrie, a red-headed girl with glasses, jumped out of her seat and bounced on her toes.

"I'm sorry, Carrie." Carol frowned. "He can't bring that into school with him."

The room filled with 'Aww's. She couldn't help but roll her eyes good-naturally at all of them. "Alright, now we really need to get down to spelling."

Once again, the room was filled with 'Aw's.

* * *

Her feet hurt from being on them all day, moving from desk to desk, but she would never regret becoming a teacher. But now, all she wanted to do was go home, soak her feet and maybe pop in a movie to watch before Daryl came home. Maybe they could order a pizza and just relax on the couch, together.

That sounded nice.

First, though, she had to drop off Shawn's card. He only lived five minutes away from their home, so that was a plus. Pulling into the driveway of a two-story home, she climbed out with card in hand and walked up to the front door.

She only had to wait a few seconds after she rang the doorbell before someone opened the door. A tall middle-aged woman with brown-hair and light green eyes opened the door. She looked tired but still managed to give Carol a smile.

"Ms. Spencer, how nice it is to see you!" Her eyes flicked to the yellow cardboard in her hand. "Is that for Shawn?"

Carol nodded.

"I'll take it." She gently grabbed it when Carol handed it to her. "I would have you come in and see him, but he's sleeping and I wouldn't want you to catch what he has."

She tilted her head slightly and asked. "Do you know what he has? Flu? Cold?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "He just started to get a fever last night, so I decided to have him stay home. He was up an hour ago and ate some soup before he went back to sleep. I'm thinking it's the flu, which is odd for this time of year, but hopefully he'll get better and be back to school soon."

"My class and I hope so, too. They miss him."

"And I'm sure he misses them too. I'll tell him that you stopped by and I hope you'll be seeing him in class soon."

"I hope so, too."

The two woman waved good-bye and Carol was relieved to finally be able to go home and relax. Then another thought came to her and she quickly checked the time. A smile played on her lips. The garage closed in a half hour and Daryl would still have to stay another hour after that to do some paperwork. Maybe she could visit him and sit in his lap as he did it.

All thoughts of soaking her feet went to the back of her mind as she pulled out of Shawn's driveway and headed in the direction of the garage.

Daryl was in for a surprise.

* * *

Daryl wiped his oily hands on the red rag he always had in his pocket and made his way to the office in the back of the garage. He had just finished looking at his last client of the day and now wanted to finish up the paperwork Charlie was leaving him so he could get home.

Opening the door to the office, he was relieved when the air-conditioning hit him in the face. Today had been a hot one and nice cool shower sounded good right now. But he had work to do.

He settled into the swivel chair in front of the large wooden desk and allowed for his bones and muscles to settle. As his body relaxed, his eyes roamed over the top of the desk and landed on the manila folder he needed. Inside that folder were the papers he needed to look over.

The door to the office opened suddenly and before he could register what the hell was going on, he found Carol perched on his desk. Her legs were crossed and she was smiling down at him.

"The hell ya doin' here, woman?" He finally managed to choke out. He was still surprised that she was actually _here. _She had never visited him at work before.

She pouted. "What? I can't visit my boyfriend at work, now? I thought that's what girlfriend's did." She uncrossed her legs, leaned towards him, gripping the edge of the desk as she did. "Do you want me to leave?"

His eyes roamed her body, starting from her calves all the way up to her lips. Her nice pink lips. "N-no, ya can stay." Why the hell was he so nervous? "Jus' don't get in my way, so I can finish this paperwork." His eyes went to the desk and he searched it's surface.

She held up the manila folder. "This paperwork?"

"Yeah." He reached for it but she held it out of his reach. He gave her an annoyed look, but she just smiled brightly back at him. Unfazed.

"You have to give me a kiss for it." She hid the folder behind her back and tilted her face towards his and waited.

He stood up then, so now he slightly towered over her. "Jus' a kiss?" He asked and moved his face closer to hers.

"Yeah." She licked her lips, closed her eyes and waited.

"Alright."

Their lips nearly touched, when one of the hands he had been sneaking around her back grabbed the folder from her hands. Before she could protest, he placed a wet kiss on her cheek and sat back in his seat.

"Ya said I would get this back if I gave ya kiss." He opened the folder and flipped through the contents. A smug grin on his face.

She crossed her arms and huffed, not looking at him. "You know that wasn't the kind of kiss I wanted, Daryl."

His eyes were glued to the papers in his hands. "Oh. Ya should have been more specific, then."

If he had been looking at her, then he would have seen the gleam of mischief in her eyes and would have prepared for it. Instead, he was completely taken by surprise when she snatched the folder from his hands and straddled his lap.

"The hell ya doin'?"

"What does it look like, Daryl?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm going to get that kiss you stole from me."

His next words were cut off as she slammed her lips on his. There was nothing gentle about this kiss and it took him awhile to finally catch up to it. She had just slipped her tongue in his mouth when she suddenly pulled away.

Daryl almost couldn't stop the whine coming from his throat.

Carol's arms crossed in front of her and she pulled her shirt over her head. She sat in his lap, skirt bunching around his hips and her light blue shirt fluttered to the ground.

"Carol." He hissed and tightened his grip on her hips. "We _can't_ do this here."

"Why not?" Her lips ghosted along his neck. "The door is locked, Charlie is sick and no one else will be coming here." She nipped his earlobe. "This is the perfect time and you can't tell me you've never wanted to have sex in your office before."

"This ain't my office. This is Char-" She cut him off with her lips and ground her hips against his.

"Is that a marker in your pocket, Daryl, or are you happy to see me?" One of her hands slid down to jeans and soon had them unbuttoned. God, he couldn't believe they were doing this _here_. He would never be able to look Charlie in the eye again.

"You know, you can touch me." She grabbed one of his hands and placed it over one of her breasts. "Come on, Daryl, I'm starting to think you don't want this. Do you want this?"

He bucked up into her. "Is that a good enough answer for ya, woman." He growled.

Her hand suddenly went under the elastic band of his boxers and wrapped around him. His forehead went to her shoulder and groaned.

"You're fuckin' killin' me here." He mumbled into her shoulder.

Her hand was gone and she was standing up. Daryl reached for her, hating the loss of her body on his, but she only smiled and shimmied out of her panties.

Oh.

She moved to settle back in his lap, but he was on his feet and lifted her on the desk. With one swipe, all the papers that littered the desk were on the ground.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him closer. "Someone is a little eager, aren't we?"

"Ya complain'?" He fiddled with the clasp of her bra and soon that joined her shirt on the floor.

"No." She giggled and started tugging his pants down.

Without another word, he thrust into her. Her legs tightened around him and she scrambled for purchase on his shoulders.

"Ya know," he whispered as his tongue traced the outer shell of her ear. "When we're done here, ya can help me clean this mess up. It's your fault, after all."

All she could do was nod as he began to thrust into her slowly.

Suddenly she was leaning back and pulling him along, so now he was lying partially on top of her. This gave him a new angle and she whimpered every time he moved. With her rapid breaths and the tightening of her legs around his waist, he knew that she was getting close. He was, too.

One forearm was pressed against the wood of the desk, holding him up, and the other hand was buried in Carol's hair as he kissed her hungrily when both of them reached their peak together.

Both of them were sweaty and breathing heavily, but neither moved.

"So, do we get to do this on your desk, next?" Daryl smirked down at her and moved a piece of sweaty hair from her face.

"Maybe in the summertime, when there is no one in the building." Her hands still gripped his shoulders.

"Ya know," he moved off of her and pulled up his pants. "I'm gonna take ya up on that offer sometime."

"I know." she smirked and climbed off the desk to grab her clothes. "I'll be counting on it."

* * *

**I'm still new at the whole writing sex thing, so forgive me if it sucked!**

**I know a lot of you have mentioned to me in your reviews that Buck is supposed to be getting out of jail soon because five years have gone past. Don't worry, I know that and I have plans for him. And yes, Ed will be making an appearance in this story sometime in the future.**

**Thanks for reading! I love all of you guys! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry for the wait and the shortness of the chapter, but I just wasn't feeling it. I just got a great idea for the next chapter, so that one should be way better than this one. At least, I hope so!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

After the two of them cleaned up the mess of papers and placed them back where they had belonged or where they had _thought_ they belonged, Carol decided that maybe she should head home and let Daryl actually get some work done. Besides, she really needed a shower.

It hadn't been her original plan to jump his bones in Charlie's office, but after she had settled herself in his lap and felt him harden, she knew there was no turning back. It was also nice to have sex somewhere outside of their home. She ignored how bad that sounded.

Running her fingers through her hair to make it look less like she just had sex, she turned to Daryl who was sitting back in the chair but this time instead of holding a folder of papers he was bent over some on the desk with a pen in hand.

"So, I'm going to head home now." She said to him. "Do you know when you'll be done with all this?"

He glanced up at her and then looked at the papers scattered across the desk. "I should be done in about a half hour."

"Okay." She fixed her skirt. "I was thinking that we could order a pizza and watch a movie, tonight. Does that sound good?"

He nodded. "Yeah." A smirk formed on his face and his eyes roamed her frame. "For some reason, I'm fuckin' starvin'."

She blushed. "We'll order it when you get home."

"Alright, I'll see you later." He went back to his work.

Carol watched him for a little bit, before she left. He took his job seriously and was proud of the fact that his boss, Charlie, had trusted him enough to run the garage while he was away. Even back when they were in high school, it seemed Charlie had seen something in Daryl and had treated him with great respect every summer Daryl had worked for him.

Sometimes, she even thought that he considered Charlie a sort of father figure. The man sure as hell treated Daryl as if he was his son. He had even offered Merle a job a few years back, but the older Dixon already had a secure job with a local construction company. He had declined. Politely, too.

Maggie was doing wonders on Merle's attitude.

At the thought of Maggie, Carol remembered what Daryl had told her the night before. She could be pregnant. She wondered if she should give the older woman a visit, but decided against it when she realized how she looked.

She looked like she had just had sex.

"I'll talk to her tomorrow." She muttered to herself when she climbed into her car.

Few minutes later, she was home and made a beeline for the bathroom but the sudden ringing of their house phone caused her to make a detour to the kitchen.

Picking up, she answered with a tired hello. The shower was calling her name and the last thing she wanted to do was get stuck talking on the phone.

_"Hey, honey!" _Instantly, she brightened when she heard the voice on the other end.

"Dad!"

_"How's my girl doing?"_

"I'm doing great!" She smiled. "I just got off work and I plan on relaxing the rest of the day. How about you? How's Sharon? How's the vacation in Florida?"

_"It's going great. Wish you were here, though." _Her dad sighed. _"Sharon's parents keep pushing us to have a baby and I know if you were down here, they would see that I already have my hands full with you."_

"Hey!" She laughed.

_"But seriously though, I don't want another baby. I'm too old and Sharon doesn't want one either. She says she has all the daughter she wants in you."_

"Aw, and I have all the mother I want in her." Carol said. It was true. Over the five years of knowing her, three of which Sharon had actually been her step-mom; she had been a better mother to her than her own had been in the ten years she had been there.

_"So, how are you and Daryl doing?" _Carol blushed as she remembered what they had done earlier in Charlie's office.

"We're doing fine." At that moment, Daryl walked into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow at her. "In fact, he just got back from work. Wanna talk to him?"

Daryl's eyes widened and he shook his head fiercely. Carol smirked and held the phone out to him, but he refused to take it.

_"How about I talk to him at another time? Sharon wants to go swimming."_

"But it's dark out!" Her eyes flicked to the window to make sure that it was what she had said.

_"That's the point."_

"Ew, gross!" She cried with a grimace.

Marc laughed. _"Well, I'll talk to you two later! Love you."_

"Love you, too!" Then they both hung up.

Hanging up the phone, she looked over at Daryl, who still stood in the doorway to the kitchen arms crossed over his chest, and gave him a smile. He didn't return it.

"I can't believe ya asked him to talk to me." He growled. "Ya know how much I hate talkin' on the phone and your dad makes me nervous."

Carol walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You still get nervous around him?"

Daryl didn't look at her. "Well, yeah. It might be because I'm sleepin' with his daughter on a daily basis that causes it."

She rolled her eyes and let him. "He knows we have sex, Daryl."

"He does?" His eyes grew wide. "Shit."

"We live together. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out." She walked past him and headed for the shower.

"Do ya think that I can convince him that I sleep in the spare bedroom?" He followed closely behind her.

"You mean the spare bedroom that has my desk and school stuff?" She turned and faced him. "Nice try, Daryl." She winked. "I'm going to take a shower. Alone. And while I'm in there you should call for a pizza, okay?"

He looked disappointed at the fact that he couldn't join her, but he was hungry and a pizza did sound good. "Fine."

* * *

Daryl had just got off the phone with the pizza place when his cell phone starting ringing. Rolling his eyes as he took it out of his pocket, he knew exactly who it was. The only other person who ever called his phone besides Carol was Merle.

"What ya want, Merle?"

_"Shit, bro. I was jus' calling to tell ya Maggie ain't pregnant."_

"When did ya find this out?" Daryl took a seat at the table in the kitchen and listened for Carol in the bathroom. The moment she got out, he was hopping in. The motor oil on his skin was making him feel disgusting.

_"Uh, two days ago."_

Daryl rolled his eyes. "And ya just tellin' me now? Ya would think ya would tell me right away since ya were in such a hurry to freak out on me."

_"Hey! It ain't my fault me and Maggie celebrated after we found out."_

He grimaced. "Ya celebrated for _two_ days?" Why was he even asking that question? He didn't want to know about his brother's sex life!

_"Naw, jus' that one night, but then I forgot all about it the nex__t __day."_

"Oh, all right. Well, I told Carol and she seemed worried for Maggie, so she'll be glad to hear the news."

"Here what news?" Carol walked into the kitchen, then. A towel wrapped around her head and wearing a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top.

"That Maggie ain't pregnant." Daryl answered her.

"Oh. Well, that's good. Right?" She took the seat across from him.

He nodded and then turned back to the phone. "Look, I gotta go, Merle. Talk to ya later, I guess." He flipped his phone closed and stood up. "The pizza is gonna be here in fifteen minutes." He bent and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm gonna go and take a shower."

* * *

Carol was in the kitchen refilling Daryl's plate full of pizza. She had only two pieces, but it looked like he was about to eat the rest. She smirked, remembering the reason why he was so hungry. Carrying the plate to the living room, she noticed that he had turned the channel.

She handed the plate and he mumbled his thank you, then took her own seat in the middle cushion with her back was pressed against his waist.

"What are we watching now?" She watched him take a bite.

"News." he answered around his bite of pizza. "I guess there was this disease going around near the coast in Florida and they finally found a vaccine for it. They want all the Florida citizens to take it. I guess it really was a nasty disease."

Carol crossed her legs in front of her and watched the TV. "I'm glad we don't have to get it. I hate shots."

"Me too."

"I'm glad my dad and Sharon are coming home, soon. I don't want them to catch whatever it was."

Daryl grabbed the remote and turned the channel. Now, a DVD play menu was playing. He sat up on the couch and pulled her into his lap.

"Are ya ready to watch this damn movie?" He growled into her hair.

She couldn't help but smile. "You know, I love it when you let me pick what we watch."

* * *

Milton hadn't seen Andrea all day. When he had woken up that morning, she had already left for her classes. He still hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her. When he had gone into their room last night, she had been sound asleep and he hadn't wanted to wake her up.

Now, he was home from his own classes and went immediately to search for her. Usually, she was home at this time.

"Andrea?" He called and received no answer. But that didn't mean she wasn't home. He checked the bathroom and their room. Still no sign of her.

The door to their office was closed and Milton knew she had to be in there. So, he opened the door and smiled when he saw her sitting at her desk, nose in one of her law books.

"Hey, Andrea."

She swiveled around in her chair. "Hey, Milton." This time her smile didn't look faked. She looked genuinely happy to see him.

He walked over and kissed her, which she returned ardently and wrapped her arms around his neck. Before things could go any further, he pulled away and kneeled at her feet. Grabbing both of her hands in his is, he looked up at her.

"Andrea, we need to talk."

Something flashed in her eyes and it looked like panic, but it was soon gone and was replaced with concern.

"What is it, Milton?"

He let go of one of her hands and pushed his glasses up further on his nose. "The past few days, Andrea, you've seemed...upset. Is there something troubling you? Have I done something wrong?"

"No!" She was quick to say with a fierce shake of her head. "I've just been feeling...stressed lately." Her eyes didn't meet his. "It's nothing you've done. I promise." She gave him a reassuring smile.

He searched her face for any signs that told him she was lying, but didn't see any. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "It's just that it's the end of the year and I've been bogged down with all this work I have to do. I'm sorry you thought there was something up."

Milton looked over her shoulder and found a stack of papers on her desk. "Would you like me to get you something to drink? Coffee?

"Um, can I have some tea, instead?"

He blinked. He was the tea drinker, not her. She never drank the stuff, especially when there was coffee available.

She must have seen his look of confusion. "I need something to soothe my nerves."

"Oh, all right." He stood up and gave her a smile. "I'll make you some tea."

"Thank you."

"No problem, Andrea." And he walked out the door and went straight to the kitchen. If he had stayed a few minutes longer, he would have seen the lone tear slip from Andrea's eye.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's the next chapter! I really enjoyed writing this one and I think it's going to answer some of the questions you all have had about Mr. Buck Dixon.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

Buck Dixon hated being in prison. He hated everything about it. The bed, the food, the fact that he had to pee in front of other people. Everything. During his younger days, he had been in and out of prison and vowed to never go back there again once he met his future wife. He wasn't willing to change his ways though. He still wanted to smoke, drink and snort the occasional line. No officer of the law was ever gonna put there hands on him again. Not if he could fuckin' help it!

Then along came Marc fuckin' Spencer. Of course, his two good for nothing sons would have someone else fight their battles for them. Couple of fuckin' pussies. And for the record, he would have won that fight too if he hadn't been drunk off his ass.

One month. One month and his ass was out of here. The first thing he was going to do was kill that bastard. Well, maybe not kill him. That was a fuckin' life sentence, but maybe he could rough him up good enough to let him know that nobody messed with Buck Dixon and got away with it.

Yeah, that's what he would do. Then after he did that, he would move onto his boys. It had been five years after all and they each deserved a good pounding.

With a smirk, he leaned back on his tiny mattress and looked up at the bottom of the bunk above him. Yep, he was gonna have himself some fun when he finally got out of here.

An hour later, he heard some bang on the bars to his cell and was roused out of his nap.

"What the fuck?" He growled at the prison guard who stood there. "I was tryin' to fuckin' sleep if ya didn't notice."

The guard ignored him and instead shoved a man into his cell. He was wearing the same orange jumpsuit as him, which classified him as a fellow prisoner.

"Looks like you have a new prison mate, Buck." The guard's face remained emotionless as he spoke.

Buck raked his eyes over the man standing in the middle of his cell. He average height, average build, maybe slightly overweight, and probably used to be in the military, if the buzz cut informed him correctly.

He looked past the scowling orange jump suited man and spoke to the guard. "He got a name?" For some reason he felt like he knew this man.

"Yeah," the guard said as he began walking away. "Ed Peletier."

* * *

Ed Peletier scowled at his roommate. The man was big but he didn't fuckin' scare him. Hell, he had beat the shit out of men bigger than him in the military. The man, Buck was his name, did look familiar, though, he couldn't help but notice when he saw how blue his eyes were.

"Are ya a fuckin' queer? Cuz if ya are then I ain't afraid to kick your ass." Buck stood up and stared him down. He was at least six inches taller than him.

"I ain't a queer." He shouldered past him and headed towards the leader leading up to his bunk.

"Then stop starin' at me like ya is one." He growled at his back.

Ed didn't respond and settled down into his mattress. He was already messing the cot he had to sleep on back at base. The last five years of his life had not been enjoyable. He hated being in the military and only stayed in it because his father threatened to cut him off if he didn't. The red convertible he use to have was already gone, so he didn't doubt his father.

Four years, his father had said, he had to stay in the military for that long and then he could quit and live his life. The first thing he had done once the four years was up was move out of his parent's home and got his own apartment.

That freedom had been cut short though. He had been on his own for a year and decided to celebrate with a bunch of his friends. They would hit the bars and pick up women.

The fight he had gotten into had caused him to be kicked out of the bar. He walked to his car drunk and alone. The night was still young and there were other bars he could go too. He hadn't gone five minutes without being pulled over and hauled in for drinking and driving.

This had been his second offense.

"So, boy," Buck said from his bed beneath him. "How long ya in here for?"

"Thirty days." He replied back.

"Huh, looks like we'll be gettin' out at the same time."

Ed shifted until he laid on his side and was looking at the opposite wall of their tiny cell. "What are you in here for?"

"Drug possession. You?"

"DUI."

Buck snorted. "What a pansy ass reason to be sittin' in a jail cell. Sounds like somethin' my oldest son would get himself into though."

"Fuck you, old man." He growled. "It's my second offense. Got my first one when I was only eighteen."

"How old are ya now?"

"Twenty-three."

"Well, looks like you've been a fuckin' goody-goody these past five years then?" Buck chuckled. "Ya sound like my youngest son, Daryl. I can't see that boy ever gettin' jail time. He was a fuckin' pussy if ya ask me."

Daryl? Ed shot up at the mention of the name and bolted over the side of his bunk to stand in front of his prison mate. The older man looked at him in surprise.

"Daryl? You have a son named Daryl?"

Buck swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. "Yeah. Ya deaf or somethin'? And what's it to ya?"

"Your last name ain't Dixon, is it?"

"'Course it is!" He stood up. "Why? Do ya know my son?"

"Yeah, I know your son." Ed said between gritted teeth. "I fuckin' went to school with the bastard."

"Hey, that's my blood ya talkin' about there, boy." He smiled. "Now, tell me what the little shit did to ya. Maybe I'll finally have somethin' to be proud of, eh?"

* * *

Charlie's house was situated in the outskirts of town and almost completely surrounded by woods. His home was nothing more than a one room cabin and Daryl knew he could afford something bigger, but he also knew Charlie liked his seclusion from the rest of the town.

If he didn't have Carol, Daryl could see himself living in similar conditions. Especially with a house as close to the woods as Charlie's. All he would have to do in the morning was step out his back door and he'd be surrounded by trees and could go hunting.

Daryl pulled up into the driveway and parked next to his boss's rusty old truck. He looked at with a smile. It reminded him of the truck he drove back when he was in high school. He'd still be driving it if it hadn't completely died on him two years ago.

Climbing out of his vehicle, he walked up to Charlie's door and knocked. The minutes ticked by and no one answered. He was home. He had to be. His truck was here. Maybe he was sleeping...or dying. With that thought Daryl opened the door, surprised to find it unlocked, and went to search for friend. He took his phone in case he had to call for an ambulance or something. But after a full search of his home, Daryl came up with nothing.

Maybe he was in the woods on a walk. Maybe he was feeling better and just wanted some fresh air. So, Daryl walked out the backdoor and hoped to spot the man walking through the trees.

Nope. Nothing.

Something crunched under his boot and he looked down. It was a piece of glass. Daryl bent down and picked it up and looked around. It was the glass he could find. Stepping down from the porch, he was surprised to see that the last step was stained with something dark.

Crouching down, Daryl got a better look. It was blood. He knew that Charlie liked to hunt, so he must have gutted something here and some of the blood got on his steps. Yeah, that was it.

Daryl ignored the uneasy feeling in his stomach as he walked back to his truck. There was nothing wrong. Everything was fine. Charlie was fine.

There was nothing wrong.

* * *

Carol sighed in relief as she placed her feet on the coffee table in front of her and opened one of her favorite books. She was glad to be home and able to relax. Today had been stressful. The kids had been rowdy and extremely talkative.

"Three more days." She muttered to herself and snuggled into the couch. "School ends on Tuesday, Carol. Only three more days."

Then she would have the whole summer off and her time would be spent doing absolutely nothing. Except Daryl. She'd be definitely _doing_ him. She smiled evilly to herself and began to read. It wasn't long before she was completely immersed in another world.

* * *

Daryl found Carol in the living room with her nose in a book. He smiled at the sight. Maybe after his shower he could curl up with her. Today felt like a lazy day and nothing sounded better than just relaxing on the couch.

She must have heard him walk in, because she tore her eyes from her book and and gave him a bright smile.

"Hey!"

He smiled back. "Hey."

Setting her book down, she turned her body to face him. "So, how was Charlie? Did you make his stubborn butt go to the doctor?"

Daryl shifted his feet and chewed at his thumbnail. A sign that he wasn't sure of something. "He wasn't there."

Carol's eyes widened. "What?"

"His truck was there, but when I checked his house I didn't see him. I think he must have gone for a walk or somethin'. Didn't check to see if his gun was there, but maybe he went huntin'."

"Do you think he was even sick to begin with?" She hurried on when he gave her a confused look. "What I'm saying is, maybe he wasn't sick. Maybe he just wanted a vacation or something."

He shook his head. "He was sick. Ya should have heard him on the phone. Maybe he's better and decided to take the rest of the week off?"

"That could be it, too." She suddenly smiled. "Look at us worrying over him so much. I bet you he's fine. Now, why don't you take a shower and I'll fix supper." She walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. "Pancakes sound good?"

He nodded and tugged her back to him for another kiss. Before the kiss could get too heated she shoved him gently away and swatted him on the chest.

"Shower and when you get out, I'll have a plate ready for you."

With another nod and another kiss, he was off in the direction of the bathroom. She watched him go for a moment, before she made her way to the kitchen.

* * *

"You know, I was thinking about Charlie, again, while you were in the shower." Carol said after she swallowed a bite of pancake.

"Yeah." Daryl grunted beside her and polished off his third pancake. They were sitting together on the couch eating their meal.

"One of my students, Shawn, has been out all week and I wonder if he has the same thing Charlie did. If that's the case, he should be getting better soon, right?"

"He should." Daryl set his empty plate on the coffee table and took Carol's empty one from her and did the same.

"Maybe he'll be back before school lets out on Tuesday. That way he could see everyone before the summer starts." She started sucking syrup from her fingers.

Suddenly Daryl grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from her face. "That's my job." His eyes never left hers as he sucked one of her fingers in his mouth. His tongue twirled around the fingertip.

She had to look away lest he see the desire in her eyes.

They were _not_ going to have sex on the couch. She had just cleaned it.

He moved on to her middle finger and all she could think about was having his mouth on other parts of her body.

_Nope, bad Carol. Can't be thinking like that now._

One strong arm wrapped around her waist and she found herself straddling Daryl's lap. His mouth immediately descended to his favorite spot on her neck. She tried to push him away, but he was too strong.

"Daryl." She whined. "Not here."

"The bedroom's too far."

"But I just cleaned the couch."

"So?" His voice was muffled. "We're the only ones who sit on it." He began to lower her back on the cushions. "'Sides, I don't mind if smells like ya."

He crawled above her and attacked her neck with his lips and teeth. It took great control to suppress a moan. She was not going to let him win.

"Come on, Carol." His tongue left a wet trail from the base of her throat to her ear. "Ya know ya want this."

"I do." She admitted and he smirked. "But not here." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

The smirk never left his face. "I think I can make ya change your mind."

"Good luck with that." She huffed.

Just then his hand slipped beneath the waistband of her panties.

_No fair! That was cheating!_

One of his fingers slipped and had her arching her back.

To hell with the couch.

She grabbed his face in both her hands and kissed him hard.

Later, they laid naked with sweat cooling on their skin and soaking into the cushions. The once _clean_ cushions. Daryl held her in his arms, legs tangled with hers and his back was facing the room. She was nice and warm pressed against the back of the couch and his body.

He smirked in her hair. "I knew ya couldn't resist me."

She resisted the urge to shove him off the couch and instead leaned over his body, giving him a nice view of her breasts and groped around by the end of the couch until her hand found what she was looking for. A large blanket.

She flung the blanket over their bodies and snuggled back into his chest. All thoughts of a missing friend and sick student couldn't be further from their minds as they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the wait, but I just wasn't feeling this chapter. I wanted to get it out to you, though, before I left for the weekend. Don't worry things are about to get real exciting soon! :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Do I really have to go?" Daryl grumbled as he stood in front of their closest. Carol stood behind him, fully dressed and ready to go.

"Yep!" She smiled. "You said you would and I already told me students you were coming in." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his shoulder. "You wouldn't want to disappoint them, would you?"

He ripped a shirt from its hanger and grumbled something she didn't understand. She moved around his body, kissed his cheek and ignored the dark look he gave her.

"I'll go make you a good breakfast and that'll cheer you up."

"Doubt it. I know only one thing that could cheer me up." He grabbed her wrist before she could leave the room and pulled her to his chest.

Pushing away from him, she crossed her arms. "Last night wasn't enough?"

"I can never get enough of ya." He gave her a smile.

She was about to kiss him and then paused. "You still have to go."

"Fuck."

* * *

They arrived at the school building earlier and that was how Carol planned it. She wanted to have Daryl in her classroom before some of the other teachers came in. She knew that they would want to stop and talk with them both and that would cause Daryl to become more uncomfortable than he already was.

"So, this is where ya work, huh?" Daryl looked around at the brightly lit room. "I would get a fuckin' headache if I had to sit in here for long periods of time. There's so much on the walls."

Carol chuckled. "My students love their art projects." She grabbed his hand and tugged him to over to her desk. He eyed the neatly organized desk and gave her a wink. She blushed.

He flipped through a stack of graded papers that set on the corner. "I gotta tell ya. Ya keep your desk much nicer than Charlie."

"Not anymore." She took a seat and watched him. "We straightened it up for him, remember?"

He nodded. "I hope when he comes back, he just thinks that I wanted to organize his shit."

"Yeah." Her cheeks flamed again.

"So," he said and took a seat on the desktop. "How long do I gotta stay here?"

"Well," she didn't look at him as she searched for a pen in one of her drawers. "Today is a half day, so after lunch we send the kids home."

"That's good." Just then, his phone rang. Both of them jumped at the sudden sound and he quickly answered it. "Hello?"

_"Hey, little brother."_ Merle sounded tired on the other end.

"Is there something wrong, Merle?"

_"Naw. I guess I was supposed to fuckin' call ya last night and ask if ya wanted to come over for supper later. Maggie's makin' a roast."_

"Let me ask Carol." He looked over at his girlfriend, who had been listening to the whole conversation. "Maggie wants to know if we wanted to go their place for supper, tonight."

"Sure!" She perked up. "I didn't feel like cooking tonight, anyways, and it'll be nice to talk with Maggie."

"Alright." He brought the phone back to his ear. "She said yes."

_"Great. See ya around six. Now, I'm gonna get my ass back to sleep."_ He didn't even wait for Daryl to say goodbye and had already hung up. Daryl just shrugged and put the phone back in his pocket.

"That was weird." He mumbled.

"Miss Spencer?" A small girl's voice nearly had him toppling backwards off the desk. "Why is there a man sitting on your desk?"

Carol's face brightened at the little girl and stood up to stand next to Daryl. "Emily, this is Daryl." She nudged him. "Daryl say hi."

He glared at her briefly before looking at Emily. "Hey."

"You're Daryl!?" Emily nearly screamed and the smile she wore almost split her face in half. "I've been waiting forever to meet you!" She rushed forward and wrapped her tiny arms around his waist.

Daryl looked over at Carol for assistance, but she just watched the scene with a smile of her own.

"See, Daryl. I told you. They're going to love you."

He just hoped that none of the other students wanted to give him hugs.

The rest of the day went well. The students had been excited to finally meet him and they kept asking him questions. Mostly about his crossbow and how he gutted squirrels. With a mischievous grin sent to Carol, he proceeded to tell them, in the goriest of details, of how he skinned and gutted the animals he caught.

Many of the girls made grossed out faces, but their were a few, along with all the boys that listened with rapt attention and pleas for more. When the lunch bell rang, Carol had to shoo students out to the cafeteria. No one wanted to say goodbye to Daryl.

Once the last student, who happened to be Emily who had stayed behind to give him another hug, left the room, Carol shut the door and whirled on him.

"Some of the girls won't want to eat their lunches now." She placed her hands angrily on her hips.

He shrugged. "They kept askin' for more huntin' stories and I couldn't disappoint."

"I knew you were enjoying yourselves up there." She crossed the room and kissed him, the anger gone. "Thank you for coming with. Now, we can go home."

"Finally."

* * *

The past week had been one of the hardest for Andrea and it wasn't because it was finals week either. For five days, she had to act like everything was all right, that there wasn't a baby growing inside her. Every morning, she had to get up as quietly as she could and rush to the bathroom and throw up. Morning sickness.

It only lasted a little while and she managed to sneak back into bed with Milton, who never stirred. She was glad he was such a deep sleeper.

She needed to tell him about the baby, but every time she opened her mouth to say something, no words came out. So, she opted to keep it to herself for now and would tell him when it really started to show.

"So, I was thinking." Milton said after he set down another box in the room they would be calling their bedroom. "That once we get all settled in here, we can go and visit everyone back home."

She nodded and wiped the sweat from her brow. Wednesday had been her last final and Thursday they had packed up all their stuff in a moving van and moved to their new apartment closer to their schools. Now, it was Friday and all the boxes had been moved to the rooms they belonged in. All they had to do now was unpack them all and place all their items where they wanted them to be.

"I was going to give Carol a call later and tell her the same thing." She wished she could tell her best friend about the baby, but knew that was a burden she needed to keep to herself and couldn't risk having it come back to Milton.

He'd be devastated if he found out from someone else that wasn't her.

"Well, let's call it a day." He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. "I'll start supper and you can call her. Does grilled cheese sound good?"

She already had her phone out and dialing, but nodded at him. "Oh, can you make some tomato soup, too?" She called after him before placing the phone on her ear.

"Sure." Then he disappeared out the door and walked towards their new kitchen.

The phone rang a few times before Carol answered with a cheery, "Hello, Andrea."

She smiled when she heard her friend's voice. It had been too long. "Hey, Carol. I miss you."

Carol chuckled. _"I miss you, too. When are you going to come down and visit us?"_

"That's why I'm calling, actually. Milton said that we can come down maybe sometime next weekend. Would that be alright?" She chewed her lip and sat on the bed in their room.

_"That would be perfect. I'll be off for the summer. Daryl still has to work, but he's usually off on the weekends."_

"Okay, we should do something that weekend, then? Maybe go to an amusement park or something?" She laid flat on the bed.

_"The county fair will be going on around that time. How about we go to that?"_

"Sounds perfect!" She smiled. "I'll let Milton know. I'm sure he'll agree. He loves the fair and hanging out with you guys will make it even better. Maybe we can have Maggie and Merle come with?"

_"That would be great!" _She could tell Carol was getting excited about the whole thing. _"Speaking of them. Daryl and I are going to their house for dinner now, so I have no __go. Sorry__."_

"It's alright. It was nice talking to you and we'll see you soon!"

_"Great! It was nice talking to you, too. Bye."_

Then they both hung up. Andrea looked at the phone in her hand. Oh, how she wished she could have told her friend about the baby.

* * *

The dinner with Maggie and Merle had been pleasant. Daryl and Merle toned it down on the ribbing at each other and they had been able to enjoy a nice meal. The roast Maggie had made had been delicious and Carol had told her so.

"My mom use to make the best roast and potatoes in the county. I was just glad I was able to watch her enough times before she died to get it right."

Carol gave her a hug and moved to help bring dessert, a peach cobbler, out to the two Dixon men.

They had enjoyed the dessert on the porch and watched as the sun went down. Once they were finished Maggie had grabbed Carol's hand and told her husband that she was taking her on a walk. The older Dixon barely paused in his conversation with brother to give her a nod.

"You know," Carol said when they were a safe distance away from the porch. "Married life suits you, Maggie."

Maggie smiled. "It does, doesn't it?" She nudged the younger woman. "When are you and the younger Dixon gonna tie the knot?"

Carol blushed. "We haven't discussed it. I don't think Daryl is the marrying type. I'm happy with what we have now. It's almost like we're married."

"Not the marrying type." Maggie almost stopped in her tracks to give her a friend a look of disbelief. "I thought Merle wasn't the marrying type and look at me now. I've been married to the man for two months. I'm sure that Daryl is waiting for the perfect moment to propose."

"I don't know..."

"He will and when he does, I'm gong to tell you 'I told you, so.'"

Carol chuckled. "So, I heard you almost had a little Dixon growing inside of you." She was glad to change the subject. It wasn't that she didn't want to get married to Daryl, she did, but she didn't want to bring it up with him for fear of scaring him off. True, they had been together for five years but there was still times where she thought he would get tired of her and ran off.

* * *

"Show me the fuckin' ring, little brother." Merle waited until his wife and Carol had walked out of his sight before he demanded that of his brother.

"W-What?" Daryl nearly topped out of his chair. "What ring ya talkin' about?"

"The one in your pocket, dumbass. The one you're gonna give Carol."

With a sigh, Daryl tug in his pocket and pulled out the ring box. Merle snatched it from his hand and laughed.

"About time ya decided to propose!" He opened the box and admired the simple ring. The band was made of white gold and sapphires surrounded a single diamond. They reminded him of Carol's eyes and knew why his brother had picked it out. "She's gonna love this, Daryl. So, when are ya gonna pop the question? Tonight?"

"Hell no!" He exclaimed and snatched the box out of his brother's hand to place it safely back in his pocket.

"Then when?"

He shrugged.

"Why do ya have it in your pocket, then?"

Fuck. How many damn questions was he going to ask him? "I carry it with me all the time. Been waitin' for the perfect moment."

"Jesus, bro! If you're gonna wait for the moment then you're never gonna ask! Jus' take her out to a nice dinner and grow a pair. That's what I did with Maggie."

Daryl was silent. He had thought about doing that, but that's what everyone seemed to do and he wanted to make his proposal special. Carol was special to him and she deserved to be treated as much.

"I'll think about it." He grumbled.

"Well, ya better think faster." Merle slapped him on the back. "Cuz at the rate you're goin', the end of the world is gonna happen before ya propose."

* * *

**So, I won't be updating until next week sometime. I have my grandparents 50th anniversary to go to this weekend. I was SUPPOSED to meeting Norman in Chicago this weekend, but it's not very often when your grandparents celebrate 50 years of marriage lol. I'm sure I'm going to have fun, so I'm not complaining!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm back from my long weekend off and it feels nice to be back to writing. My grandparents 50th went very well and I want to thank everyone who congratulated them! It was a long day walking around in heels and a dress, but it was worth it! Now, on to this chapter. It's shorter than usual, but I think it'll be worth it. Well, the end part anyway!**

**I hope you all enjoy! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Carol leaned heavily into Daryl's side as they walked into the house after their dinner with Merle and Maggie. It was late and it was clear Carol was exhausted. On the ride home, she barely could keep her eyes open.

"That was fun," she said with a giant yawn as she slowly began to undress for bed. "We should have them over sometime. Isn't that what married couples do?"

Married couples? Daryl froze with his back to her. What was that supposed to mean? They weren't married, he hadn't even proposed yet. Did she know he had the ring? Fuck, he thought he kept it in a good hiding spot.

He slipped on the shirt in his hands and turned to her. She was lying under the covers already with eyes that were barely opened. They were unfocused as she struggled to keep them open and looking at him.

"We're kinda married, aren't we, Daryl?" Her voice was slurred with sleep.

"Uh..." He didn't know what to say. They lived together, they slept together, and they did many other things together. Did that mean they were 'kinda married'? "I guess." He finally answered.

"Okay." With a smile, she finally succumbed to sleep. Daryl slowly climbed into the bed, careful not to wake her, and hoped that she would forget this conversation in the morning.

* * *

Tuesday morning, Daryl saw Carol off to her last day of school and settled in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal. He didn't have to be at the garage for a couple more hours. Leaning back in the couch and crossing his ankles on the coffee table, he turned the TV on. The local news station was on and he moved to turn it when the word Florida caught his eye. Carol's dad and step-mom were still in Florida.

_"Now, we're going to switch it over to Tammy in Florida."_ The screen split in half. One side showed the handsome blonde anchor and the other side showed an auburn-haired woman who he assumed was Tammy.

_"Thank you, John." _Tammy smiled widely, her perfect white teeth on display. _"Things are getting a little crazy down here, John."_

_"Where are you right now, Tammy? It looks like you are in front of a...hospital?"_

_"Yes, I am. Right now, I'm in front of Sarasota Memorial Hospital where there is twenty-three people being treated for some unknown disease. It seems to __similar__ to the disease that broke out along the Keys, but what makes these people significant, is that they all took the vaccine that was supposed to prevent it."_

John frowned at the news. _"Do you think the vaccine is getting __people__ sick with this disease?"_

_"It looks that way, John."_ The sound of an approaching ambulance could be heard in the background and the reporter switched the microphone to the other hand. _"I asked one of the doctors here if they are concerned with the influx of patients, but they told me it was normal for some people to get sick when they get a vaccine. None of the patients are in __critical__ condition and all are expected to make a full recovery."_

_"Thank you, Tammy."_

_"No problem, John."_

The anchor straightened up the papers in front of him and gave the camera a bright smile. _"We will give you updates on what is happening in Florida later on, but right now we're switching to Phil with the weather."_

Daryl picked up the remote and turned off the TV with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He knew the reporter hadn't said there wasn't any cause to worry, but he knew he should tell Carol to call her dad and tell him to come home.

Something was happening in Florida. Something bad.

* * *

The children were out for recess, their last recess of the year, and Carol sat in her desk chair with a relieved sigh. In a few hours, she would be home and the next three months would be all about relaxing. She loved her students, she really did, but the last week had been hectic and she was just as eager for the summer as they were. There would be no more discipline, no more teaching and no more grading papers.

Her eyes wondered to the desk in the corner, Shawn's desk. He still hadn't been back to school and she was worried. He had missed almost a week and a half of class. Maybe she would go and visit him again tomorrow, to see what was going on.

She was lost in her thoughts when someone knocked on the door. With a start, she stood up and went to open the door.

"Hey, Carol." It was Tracy Miller, the other third grade teacher. Her classroom was right across the hall from Carol's.

"Hey, Tracy. Is there something wrong?" There was something off with how the other teacher looked. She looked pale and there was a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling very good, so I'm calling it a day." She shouldered the bag she was carrying. "I hate to leave my kids with a substitute for the rest of the day, and it being the last day,too, but I know I won't be able to last the next couple hours."

"You aren't looking too great, right now. I think its best you go home and relax."

Tracy gave her a weak smile. "That's what I plan on doing. I just came over to ask you a favor. If you hear my students going a little wild, could you maybe stick your head in and help my sub out?"

Carol nodded. "Of course!" She gently grabbed her elbow and led her to the door. "Now, go home and rest. You have the rest of the summer to enjoy and I would hate for you to have to spend the first day in bed."

She gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you, Carol. I hope you have a wonderful summer."

"You too." Carol watched her go, eyes narrowing in confusion and worry. That made three people, well that she knew of anyway, that were sick. Was there something going around?

* * *

"Hey, Jim." Daryl walked into the garage and spotted the other mechanic under the hood of a car.

"Yeah?" Jim, a tall skinny man with dark hair and beard, looked up from the engine.

"Ya seen Charlie around? Figure he'd be back by now." He hadn't been there yesterday, but Daryl wondered if he had just taken another day off.

"Nope. Haven't seen him since almost two weeks ago."

"Well, fuck." He muttered. "Thanks." He said louder so the other man could hear.

"No problem." Jim replied and went back to work. The car he was working on was the only one in the shop at the moment and Daryl knew that no more would come until later, if any came at all. It wasn't that they didn't get much business, in fact that got a lot since Charlie was known to be one of the best and most reasonable mechanics around, but the past couple days had seen a slow down in customers.

"Hey, Jim." He called again to the other man. "Call my phone if ya get another car. I'm gonna head up to Charlie's place and check on him."

The other mechanic didn't even look up from his work and answered in the affirmative. Daryl changed directions and walked back to the truck. The uneasiness that he had felt earlier had not left him and now felt like a ton of bricks in his gut.

Something told him that he was smart in bringing his crossbow along.

* * *

The grass surrounding Charlie's property was long. It hadn't been cut in a long time. The grip on the steering wheel tightened. Charlie was usually on that. He hated an overgrown yard.

His truck was still in the same spot and looked like it hadn't moved since the last time he'd been there. No one answered his knocks and the door was unlocked. The uneasiness was slowly heading toward fear. What if something happened to Charlie and he hadn't gotten here in time? Maybe he had a heart attack or something and hadn't been able to get to the phone. Daryl moved reluctantly through the house, afraid of what he might find.

He found nothing.

Where was he?

He moved to the gun cabinet he knew Charlie had in his bedroom and with the key (hidden under the mattress), he opened the cabinet and was relieved to find one gun messing. The 12-gauge. Charlie's favorite. That meant the older man was probably off hunting. He'd look for him and maybe get some of his own hunting in, too. It had been awhile since he had got himself a deer and recently he had been craving some of Carol's deer stew.

Few minutes later, he grabbed his crossbow from the truck, slung it over his shoulder and walked into the woods. He hadn't gone a hundred feet when he spotted something ahead of him lying next to a tree. Approaching it, he realized with dread, that it was Charlie's gun.

Daryl picked it up and scanned the area. There was no one in sight. Walking on, he kept himself alert. If there was any movement, he would catch it. Charlie was out here somewhere. If he had dropped his gun, he may have been running from someone or something.

Suddenly he found himself in a clearing, one he had never been in before. Ahead of him, about a couple hundred yards away he saw a figure kneeling over something. As he approached cautiously, he noticed that it was a human. A male human. On even closer inspection, he saw that the man was wearing a plaid shirt, one very familiar to him. It was Charlie's shirt.

Daryl smiled. He had finally found him and it looked like he caught himself a deer and set to gutting it. The questions niggling at his mind went ignored. He didn't want to think about how Charlie had killed the deer without his gun and if he had shot it, why had he left his gun in the middle of the woods? He kept telling himself those questions weren't important right now.

Charlie was fine.

"Hey, Charlie," he called out as he approached. "I think ya dropped something." He held up the 12-gauge in his hand.

The older man stopped working on the deer and his head seemed to tilt to the side, as if he was listening for something.

"Gotten deaf in your old age?" He joked and walked even closer. Once he got close enough, he reached out a hand to grab his friend's shoulder when the man suddenly whipped around with a growl.

Daryl stumbled away from him and dropped the gun to the ground. Charlie growled again and stood to his feet, stumbling as he did so. There was blood smeared all over his face, hands and clothing. He hadn't been gutting the deer. He had been _eating_ it.

His teeth snapped together as he stumbled towards Daryl, arms reaching out as if he wanted to grab him and that was when he noticed it.

Charlie's eyes were a milky white.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the shortness, but if I added the parts I wanted to this chapter it would have probably been super long and not updated tonight. Plus, I think those events deserve their own chapter anyways!**

**I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Charlie?" Daryl stumbled and fell, eyes wide with fear as his friend kept limping towards him. "This ain't funny."

Charlie didn't say anything, but snarled and gnashed his teeth as he came closer. His hands were outstretched, like he wanted to grab him and those eyes...There was something so inhuman about them. There was no life in them at all.

"Ya ain't fuckin' Charlie, are ya?" Daryl stood to his feet and slung his crossbow around. "This ain't supposed to happen. This _can't_ happen." But it did. This wasn't Charlie anymore. Charlie was dead and this was just some _thing_.

"I don't wanna do this." He choked and felt tears brimming in his eyes. "Don't make me do this, Charlie. Ya was like a daddy to me. I can't..."

The older man, no, _thing_, lunged and Daryl fell under its weight. His crossbow was knocked from his hands and he was barely able to keep Charlie off him. With a viscous kick, he sent him backwards and he quickly scrambled for his crossbow and aimed. He let a bolt fly and it hit the thing just below his left shoulder, in its heart.

He should be dead now, but he kept moving towards as if he hadn't been shot. Quickly, Daryl reloaded and let another bolt fly. This time it struck him between the eyes and he crumpled to the ground. Was that it? Aim for the head?

Daryl cautiously approached the body and flipped it over to his back. It didn't move. Its lifeless eyes bore into his and blood seeped out of the hole in its head and shoulder. He couldn't look at the broken body of his friend anymore and fell to his knees and vomited into the grass.

Wiping his mouth, he shouted at the body in front of him. "Fuck, Charlie! What the hell happened to ya?!" He shoved the body angrily, pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes, and willed himself not to cry, but it was hard.

He had just killed the man who had been the closest thing to a father to him. The only person, besides Carol, who hadn't cared what his last name was and cared about the man he was. He had never judged him because of Buck and now he was dead.

Killed.

By him.

The dam behind his eyes burst and he let himself cry.

* * *

Carol came back to an empty house and Daryl's truck missing from the driveway. She figured that he was still at work and went to take a quick shower. Instead of slipping on her pajamas, she grabbed her favorite robe. A dark blue silk one that Daryl had gotten her for a Christmas one year. Walking into their bedroom, she grabbed the phone that sat on her side of the bed and decided she'd give her dad a call. It had been a few days since she had lost spoken to him.

Dialing his number, she waited on the other end for him to answer. No one did. She found that odd. He always answered his phone. Next, she tried Sharon's cell. Nothing. She shrugged and placed the phone back in its cradle and headed back to her room. Maybe they were out swimming or something.

Still in her robe, she laid down on the bed and waited for Daryl to come home.

* * *

"Milton, honey, come look at this!" Andrea called from their new living room. She had decided to take a break from unpacking and watch a little TV. The News caught her eye as she flipped channels and when she stopped on the channel, her eyes quickly scanned the headlines.

"What is it?" Milton joined her on the couch.

"Something's going on in Florida. Look." She pointed at the screen. "It seems like all those people that were in the admitted into the hospital are slowly dying. The first one died like three hours ago and six more since."

Milton adjusted his glasses and leaned closer. "That isn't good."

"No, it isn't. They're saying that that vaccine that they are giving people is doing more harm than good."

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. "I just hope that this disease doesn't spread up here. They need to find a cure and fast. I don't want anything happening to you."

_Me too_, she thought to herself and placed a hand on her still flat stomach. _I don't want anything happening to the three of us._

* * *

It was dark when Daryl came home. His clothes were covered in blood, Charlie's blood, and his hands wouldn't stop shaking. His mind was numb and all he wanted to do was scrub himself clean.

After he had killed his friend, he had sat there for what felt like hours trying hard to stop the raking sobs that shuddered through his body. No matter how hard he had tried, the tears wouldn't stop. He had never killed a man before and the fact that he had to kill someone he cared so much about, devastated him. But he had to do it. That _thing_ in control of Charlie's body would have killed him first.

Wiping fiercely at the tears on his cheeks, he stood up, walked back to Charlie's house, grabbed a shovel and dug a grave for him. Then he had dragged his body into it and buried him. That was it. There was no funeral, no grave marker and no words said. He had buried the only man who had ever treated him like a son and walked away.

"Daryl? Is that you?"

The sound of her voice soothed him. All he wanted to do was wrap himself around her and listen to her talk and tell him everything was going to be okay. That what he had done was okay.

"I'm in the bedroom."

He didn't say anything and soon found himself in the doorway of their room. She sat at the edge of the bed in nothing but her blue silk robe and gave him a warm smile. That smile faded, though, when she saw his clothes and the blood.

"Daryl?" She shot from the bed and ran to him. "What happened?" Her hands roamed his body, looking for any injuries.

"It ain't mine." His voice was hoarse from crying.

"Who-"

"Charlie's."

She gasped and a hand flew to her mouth.

"I-I went over to his house, to check on him, and I found him in the woods eatin' on a deer." He swallowed. "He heard me comin' and he turned to me. It wasn't him. His eyes were white and he had blood all over his face. He wanted to _kill_ me, Carol."

She gasped again and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I shot him in the heart. H-He kept comin' at me and then I shot him in the head, like a damn rabid dog." Tears once again threatened to spill over. "I buried him and I didn't say shit over his grave, Carol. I fuckin' walked away like the man didn't mean anythin' to me at all.

"I should have checked on him sooner, made him go to the fuckin' hospital. Maybe this wouldn't have happened to him, if I had."

"It's not your fault, Daryl. You didn't know this would happen." She looked up at him with a tear-stained face. "Charlie was stubborn. He wouldn't have gone, even if you threatened to knock him out and drag him there."

"I know." He buried his face in her hair. "I gotta tell Merle. He was like a daddy to both of us."

"Later."

"What?" He lifted his head and looked at her.

"Tell him later. Right now, we need to get you out of these clothes and clean you up." She gave him a watery smile. "I'll help."

She burned his clothes, at his request, made him sit in the bath while she scrubbed the blood from his skin and even picked the remnant of blood underneath his nails.

"You know I love you, right?" She said and looked him in the eye.

He gave her a curt nod. "I know."

She leaned over the edge of the tub and kissed him. "We're going to get through this. I promise."

Together they watched the bloody water flow down the drain.

* * *

Outside of Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Marc Spencer stood with his wife as he left a message on his daughter's phone.

"Hey Carol, honey. Sorry we missed your calls, but Sharon's mom is in the hospital and we were there visiting here. The doctors said it's nothing too serious, she was just running a high fever and she should be out by tomorrow morning. Love you and we'll see you on Friday. Don't forget to pick us up!" With a laugh, he hung up and pulled his wife closer.

"So, how about we go back to your parent's house and sit in the Jacuzzi? You really need to relax, dear."

Sharon nodded against his side. "I do. It was just that she got sick so suddenly. She was fine one minute and the next she's passed out in the kitchen."

He kissed her cheek. "She's going to be fine. I promise."

* * *

That night Daryl laid in Carol's arms with his head resting on her breast. When he woke up that morning, he hadn't thought things could get so bad in such a short time. There was some kind of disease going around that was most likely causing the deaths of many people and he had killed a man.

What was happening? What happened if there were more of those things? What would he do?

Protect Carol.

That would be his first and _only_ priority. There was no way in hell he was going to let something bad happen to her. He'd kill hundreds of those things if he had too. As long as Carol would be safe.

Tomorrow he would go and gather up all of Charlie's guns and bring them back to the house. Carol knew how to shoot a gun, he had thought her, and would make sure she kept one with her at all times. While he did that, he would tell her to stock up on canned goods and other food items. Just in case.

People would think he was crazy, but what was new? He was going to protect Carol at all costs and if that meant getting prepared for the fucking zombie apocalypse, then so be it.

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter seemed a little blahhh, but I promise things will be getting a little more exciting in future chapters. I'm still easing into the whole zombie apocalypse thing. As much as I want to it to just happen and there's all of a sudden a thousands of Walkers around, I just can't. I put too much though in all of this lol**

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

******Well, here's the next chapter. Things are going to get kind of exciting! I also want to thank all of you who are reading this and reviewing! I love you guys and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Buck lumbered back into the cell he shared with Ed and went straight to his bunk. Ed had retreated to their cell earlier and now laid in his own bunk staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head.

"Jus' talked to one of the guards." Buck said. "Said some crazy shit has been goin' on to the south of us. People dyin' of some kind of disease, I guess."

"Huh." Ed grunted. He wasn't interested at all. All he wanted to do was get the hell out of this cell and kick Daryl Dixon's ass. A smug smile spread across his lips at the thought. Buck would even lead him right to the Dixon.

"He told me if we start feelin' sick we better get our asses to the infirmary." He continued. "Whatever's gonna on better not get in here, alls I got to say."

Ed wasn't paying attention. He was going over this revenge in his mind, which was what he did almost every night before he went to bed. Some may think he was crazy for holding such a grudge for five years, but it was because of that fuckin' redneck he was here now. If it wasn't for him, he'd be in the NFL right now making big money and having a different woman every night.

Hell, he wouldn't doubt that he could even had Carol. All he would have to do was show her how successful and rich he was and she would leave Daryl and hop right into his bed. His smile grew at the thought.

Carol would regret everything she had done in high school. She would regret not going out with him.

* * *

Carol woke up when the sun shone through their window. Daryl was still curled into her side and when she looked over at the clock, she saw that it was early. Too early. However, she couldn't sleep any longer. Her nights were plagued with nightmares. Charlie covered in blood, coming at Daryl. Daryl's look of fear when Charlie lunged at him. Daryl dying.

Nope. She couldn't watch that anymore and jerked herself awake. Luckily, she hadn't jostled Daryl and woken him up. He had a tough night and needed his rest. She wondered if his sleep was plagued with nightmares, as well.

Quietly, she maneuvered her body from Daryl's and slipped from bed. The phone on her night table was blinking and she grabbed it before leaving the room. Someone had left her a message and with relief, she found that it was her dad.

They were all right. Thank God. It was too earlier to call them back, so she set the phone down on the kitchen counter and set about making some coffee. Daryl would want some when he got up and he would want it black.

Taking her steaming cup, she walked to the living room and decided she would see if there was any more at what was going on in Florida. Hopefully things were settling down there. But what the hell was happening here? As much as she hated what happened to Charlie, she hoped that he was the only one.

She pressed the power button the remote and watched as the TV came to life. The channel was still on the news and it looked like it had just gotten off a commercial.

_"Good morning, everyone."_ The blond anchor said with a bright smile. _"If you're just joining us, we would like to show what is happening to our neighbors in the south. Tammy has been there for the past couple days, reporting on the __occurrences__ that have been happening. Tammy."_

The screen split in half and on the side where Tammy was supposed to appear, it was just a bunch of fuzz.

_"Uh, Tammy?"_

The image cleared only slightly to show Tammy, with a look of fear in her eye, and a microphone in her hand. Carol couldn't see what was happening in the background, but she thought she could hear screams.

_"John!"_

_"Tammy, can you tell us what's going on?"_

The image didn't clear and the sound kept fading in and out. _"Something horrible...Sarasota...__Hospital__. The dying aren't...__dead__. They've...eating... They're...__walking__ dead!"_ Then with an abrupt scream, the screen went black.

Carol watched with wide eyes as the anchor, John, stood up from his seat and looked frantically around.

_"Tammy?! What the hell is going on?"_ He pointed off screen. _"Try and get her back on, dammit! What the fuck is going on at the hospital?"_

The screen cut off and she was being shown a commercial for car insurance. Her hands shook. Had they said something about Sarasota Hospital? Oh God, she shot to her feet and dropped her coffee on the ground. Dad and Sharon! They were at that same hospital!

Tears sprang to her eyes as she raced to the kitchen. _Please be al__l right__, __please__ be al__l right__._ She didn't even notice Daryl sitting at the kitchen table when she burst into the room and made a mad dash for her phone.

"Carol, what's wrong?" He saw the tears and was instantly on his feet to stand in front of her.

"My dad. There's something really wrong where they are. I think people are...eating other people."

His face darkened. "Ya mean, like what happened with Charlie?"

She nodded and placed the phone to her ear as it dialed.

"Fuck!" Daryl grabbed at his hair and paced the room. "What the hell is goin' on? I gotta fuckin' call Merle and tell him to get his ass over here. Somethin' tells me that shit is gonna happen here, too!"

Carol wasn't listening to him, she was focused on the ringing in her ear. "Come on, dad," she whispered. "Answer. _Please._"

* * *

Daryl left the room in a run and went to get his own phone. He was surprised to hear it ringing when he finally found it.

"Hello?" He answered.

_"What the fuck is goin' on, little brother? There's fuckin' people comin' up from the dead and eatin' other people!"_

"Ya been watchin' the news?"

_"Hell yeah, I am! It ain't just in Florida. It's startin' to spread to other states, even here."_

"Fuck, I knew it. Ya need to get your ass and Maggie's over here now. Grab whatever shit ya need and get over here. I gotta...I have somethin' to tell ya and I don't wanna say it over the phone."

_"When ya say get my shit what-"_

"Everythin'! Clothes, food, weapons! Somethin' is happenin' and I want us all to be stickin' together."

There was a pause on the other line. _"Alright, bro. Give us fifteen minutes and we'll be there."_ With that, he hung up.

Daryl walked back to the kitchen to find Carol sitting on the floor, sobbing into her arms and legs. He was at her side in an instant.

"They're dead, Daryl!" She cried. "I just know it."

He wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her closer. "Now, ya don't know that. I'm sure they're somewhere safe."

"No! I called both their phones and even Sharon's parent's house. Nothing. They were supposed to get her mom this morning at the same hospital where all this is going on." She looked at him with watery blue eyes. "There's people _eating_ other people out there, Daryl. What's going on?"

"I don't know." He tightened his grip on her. "But whatever it is, I'm gonna keep ya safe. I promise."

* * *

Merle barreled into their house twenty minutes later, Maggie close behind. Both of them were breathing heavily and their eyes were wide.

"They're fuckin' here!" Merle nearly shouted. "Me and Maggie saw one on our way here. It was a woman from what we could tell."

Carol felt a weight of dread settle in her stomach. "Did you get a good look at her?"

Maggie spoke up. "Not really. She just had really long black hair and she was still in her pajamas. All she was doing was walking aimlessly around."

Tracy had long black hair. It was her most prized possession. All the little girls loved it and wanted to braid it all the time. Carol had even been envious of it.

No, she wouldn't believe that it was her until she saw for herself.

"Okay," Daryl stepped up. "Merle, me and you are gonna head over to Charlie's-"

"Good idea," Merle interrupted. "If anyone knows how to survive this shit, it'll be him. Let's go." He moved towards the door.

Daryl was quiet. Carol looked over at Maggie and shook her head. The older woman got the idea and reached for her husband's arm to stop him.

"What's wrong?" He immediately asked his wife.

"Charlie's dead." Daryl finally said.

"What?!" Merle turned to his brother. "When the hell did that happen?"

"Yesterday. I killed him."

"Why would-" He paused, suddenly understanding and clenched his fists. "Fuck, he was...one of them things?"

Daryl nodded.

"And he tried to...eat ya?"

Another nod.

"Shit." Merle ran a hand down his face. "That ol' man was supposed to outlive us all. Jesus fuckin' Christ," he roared. "What the hell is happenin'?" It was plain that all he wanted to do was kick something.

Maggie stood in front of him and placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Merle, honey." Her voice was soft. "I'm sorry for your loss. I know how much he meant to you." She turned to Daryl. "To both of you."

"He was like a daddy." Merle mumbled.

The room grew silent as the two brothers mourned their loss together.

"Okay." Daryl was the first to snap out of it. "We gotta go now. Maggie, can ya help Carol gather up all the food ya can?"

Maggie nodded. "We have some in the truck, too."

"I'll help you unload." Carol stepped to her friend's side.

"Before ya go out there," Daryl spoke before disappearing from the room and coming back seconds later with something in his hands. "I want ya to have this on you." He shoved a handgun in her hands. "If one of those things comes at ya while you're out there, ya have to shoot it in the head. That's the only way to stop them, alright?"

She nodded. The last thing she wanted to do was shoot another human being, but if it meant it saved her and Maggie, she would do it.

"We'll be back as soon as we can and then we gotta sit down and discuss what's happenin'." Without another word, the Dixon brothers walked out of the house.

Maggie smiled. "Daryl's a real leader, ain't he?"

* * *

"So why are we goin' to Charlie's house? What's there?" Merle asked as Daryl sped down the road. He didn't pay attention to the speed limits and figured that the police had more to worry about than someone speeding on a back road.

"He's got guns. Seven or eight of them. We're gonna need them."

"Damn bro, you've really put some thought into this." Merle gripped his seat as his brother took a sharp turn.

"Hell yeah. I gotta protect Carol and Charlie ain't gonna be usin' them. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we took them."

"He'd want us to take them to stay safe." Merle chuckled. "Ain't we lucky he liked his guns?"

Daryl braked hard in Charlie's driveway, grabbed his crossbow and hopped out of the truck. "We gotta make this quick!" He called after Merle. "I don't like leavin' Carol and Maggie by themselves."

"Neither do I. Jus' tell me where they are and let's grab 'em."

"They're in his room." As he said it, Daryl led them there. "There's one under his mattress." He pointed out to Merle as he went for the cabinet. He grabbed the six rifles there and turned to Merle who had one in his hand.

"There any more?" He asked.

Daryl nodded towards the closest. "Check there."

Merle did and sure enough came out with another gun in his hand.

"I think that's all."

"Ammo?"

"Shit. Yeah, in the cabinet. Grab everythin'."

The two Dixon's cleaned their old friend's house of every weapon he had. There was eight rifles and two handguns, plus ammo for all of them as well.

"I think we're gonna be set, baby bro. We got everythin' we need to keep our women safe."

Daryl agreed and hopped back into his truck. As he pulled out of the driveway, he gave a silent thank you to his deceased friend.

* * *

Maggie and Carol had all their can goods stacked on the kitchen counter and table. With smiles, they were relieved to see that they had enough to last awhile.

"I think soon we're gonna be losing electricity and stuff, so we should cook all the perishables we have and save this stuff for later." Maggie suggested.

"Alright." Carol moved to the refrigerator. "Let's start with some leftovers. I have spaghetti and some fried chicken."

"Sounds good. Let's heat it up and have it ready for when our boys come home. They'll probably be starving."

Ten minutes later, Merle and Daryl walked through the door, arms weighted with guns and ammo. They decided to take them to the living room and Maggie and Carol followed behind them with food in their hands.

"That's a lot of weapons." Maggie handed a bowl to Merle and took a seat next to him.

"And ya each are gonna get one." Daryl spoke from his spot on the couch. Carol sat by him and nodded.

"So, do we know what's exactly going on?" Maggie asked.

Merle spoke up, after swallowing a mouthful of noodles and sauce. "The fuckin' zombie apocalypse."

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Well, here's the next chapter. I actually really liked writing this one. The last couple chapters have been hard to write and I don't know why! So, I was glad to see how easily it all came to me today. I have some major things planned for the next couple of chapters, which I am super excited to write so that's probably why this chapter was easy for me.**

**Now, I hope you all enjoy and remember how much I love you all! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**~One Week Later~**

Things had gotten bad. Real bad. The disease had spread through out the United States like wildfire. No one was safe and as far as any could tell, no one was immune.

Atlanta had been one of the worst, it being a large city. There were even talks about the possibility of it being bombed in hopes to kill of most of the undead. They had already heard about the horrors going on in the hospitals. Men, women and children were being put down like dogs, even if they hadn't already turned. Numerous people had packed up their stuff and fled their homes in hopes of finding safety in a refugee camp.

"We need to leave, Milton. Now." Andrea turned from the window, where she had just watched a group of army men shoot down a group of 'walkers'. That was what they were calling them, now, instead of zombies.

"Do you have everything?" He walked into the living room, hair askew and dark circles under his eyes. The past week had not been kind. Both of them had been too afraid to sleep and never left their apartment. They knew everyone was leaving, but Andrea had thought it would be best if they waited a little bit before they fled. The roads were no doubt jammed and the last thing she wanted was to be was stuck in a vehicle while they were people out there eating other people.

"We packed it all up last night, remember?" Her gaze had returned out the window and she winced when a fleeing woman was attacked by a group of three walkers. No one stopped to help her; no one even glanced her way as she screamed.

Her hand went unconsciously to her stomach. Why kind of world was she going to bring this baby into? A world where no one cared about anyone else, except themselves. Would their baby even last in this world?

"Right." Milton ran a hand through his hair and fixed his glasses. "Well, then are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." However, she didn't make any move to get up. What was the point? Who knew if they would even survive the run to the car, let alone the trip out of the city?

"Are you all right?" Suddenly he was there, kneeling at her side and placed a hand over the one on her stomach. "Are you feeling...ill?"

She shook her head and quickly removed her hand. The last thing Milton needed to worry about was a baby. She'd keep that burden to herself until they found some place safe. That way if she were killed, he would only think to mourn her and not their baby, too. It would make it...easier for him.

* * *

Blaring sirens, flashing red lights and the sounds of gunshots woke Ed up from his sleep. Buck was already up and watching as guards ran past their cell. The doors had swung open and prisoners had even begun to follow the guards.

"Them things are in here now." Buck turned to him, his tone grim. "I fuckin' knew it would happen. That infirmary was fuckin' full of them sick bastards."

"What things?" Ed hopped from his bunk to the ground and stood by his cellmate.

"Have ya been fuckin' watchin' the news, boy?" The older man turned on him. "Jesus Christ. Good thing ya is with me, otherwise one of them things would have already taken a chuck outta ya."

"The hell you talking about?" He was getting angry, now. What the fuck was the old man talking about?

"Walkers! Zombies! Whatever the hell ya wanna call them." He shoved him hard. "Now, get what little shit ya have and let's get outta here. They's probably got the gates open."

Ed didn't bother to grab anything, because Buck was already out of the cell and running in the opposite direction of the guards.

"Shouldn't we be going where they are? They have guns."

"Hell no, boy!" Buck yelled over his shoulder. "They're going _towards_ them things. We're gettin' away from them and gettin' outta here."

Gunshots echoed through the hallways and both of them winced with the sound. Other inmates started following Buck and Ed, trusting the two to be going in the right direction.

"We're gonna need guns." Buck said to him and the next second he had grabbed an armed guard that was about to run past them. With one punch, the man was slumped to the ground in unconsciousness and Buck held up the gun in triumph.

The other prisoners had seen what the older man had done and went quickly to follow his lead. Not once did any of them think about the fates of the guards they had left unconscious in the hallways. All they cared about now was their own survival and nothing was going to get in their way.

* * *

Daryl sat atop the roof of his truck and scanned the area around him. It was his and Carol's shift on watch. Even though they were safe within the house, they knew that it would be a good idea to dispatch any of the walkers that got near.

Carol's perch was at the back of the house and his was in the front. More walkers showed up in the front of the house and he knew she was safer where she was. It made him nervous, though, to be this far from her. He knew if one of them things snuck up on her, he'd be too late to save her.

Standing up on the roof of his truck, he peered over the roof of their house and saw her sitting there, perched on Merle's truck. He was glad that their house was only one story and could easily look over the roof and see her.

"Carol?" He called and she turned to face him. "Everythin' all right over there?"

She gave him a smile and a thumb's up.

"The sun's comin' up, so we can head in if ya want."

She nodded. "Okay." She swung the rifle that was strapped to her shoulder, to her back and climbed off the truck to head inside. Daryl met her in the kitchen.

They only had watches during the night, since they could easily tell if there were any walkers coming during the day and it allowed each couple to sleep in a bed, since they only had one mattress. Merle and Maggie were on it now.

"Do ya want me to get Maggie and have her help with breakfast?" He leaned against the counter and watched as she grabbed a skillet from the drainer near the sink and placed it on the stove.

Thank God for gas stoves.

"No, I've got it." She answered.

"Ya sure?"

She turned and gave him a tired smile. "Yes, I'm sure, Daryl. All I'm doing is heating up water for some coffee, since I figured we could have some canned fruit for breakfast."

Daryl could tell she was getting a little annoyed at his hovering, but the other day she had killed her first walker. It had been someone she knew, he could tell by the way her face had gone from shocked to anguished, before she stabbed the woman in the eye.

After the kill, she had pocketed her knife, walked right back into the house and headed straight to the bathroom to clean up with the bucket of water they kept in their for such occasions. Daryl had followed her, but stopped when she closed the door. From where he stood, he could hear her sobs, but he couldn't go in after her. She had locked the door.

Now, he stayed near here in case she had another break down and this time he'd be there to comfort her.

* * *

Milton and Andrea stood by the door that would lead them outside to their car. At the moment, the street was quiet. Almost too quiet. There wasn't a thing in sight; human or undead. It almost seemed like the calm before the storm.

Milton held the keys in his shaking hands and looked at her. "Are you ready to make a run for it?"

She nodded and gave him a weak smile. It was meant to reassure him, but she knew it hadn't done its purpose.

Suddenly he smashed his lips to hers and she returned the kiss just as passionately. God, she hoped that this wasn't going to be their last kiss.

Milton pulled back, slightly out of breath. "You know I love you, right? I know...that I'm not that strong, but I want you to know that I will fight for you. I'm going to protect you. Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise."

Tears sprang to her eyes. "I love you, too, Milton. And," she grabbed his hand. "We can protect each other. Nothing can get to use if we stay together."

With a shaky smile, he squeezed her hand. "Okay, on the count of three we'll make a run for it."

"I'm ready." One hand was braced on the door.

"One, two..." He gave her one last look. "Three!" And they ran.

* * *

"The hell we supposed to do now?" Asked on of the prisoners that had followed Buck and Ed to their freedom. Most of them were covered in blood from having to shoot at a few inmates-turned-walkers that had rounded the corner on them.

"Well, I reckon we can all band together and shit." Buck said and forced himself in the middle of the group. He took a quick look at all the orange jump suited men. "There's seven of us. I saw that's some pretty good numbers."

"Yeah, but what the hell do we do now?" A tall Mexican man stepped forward. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. A few strands had escaped it and now stuck to his sweaty face.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Tomas."

"Well, Tomas, how's about ya shut the fuck up for a second and let me think!" Buck roared and everyone flinched except for the man in front of him.

A small black man stepped next to Tomas. "So, are you making yourself the leader or something?"

Buck raised his gun and aimed it at the man. "Is there anyone else who's voluunteerin'?" No one said anything. "Good. I guess that makes me the leader. Now, all you fuckers had better listen up. The first thing we need is shelter. After we find that, then we can find food and other shit. Does any one have any objections?"

Once again, no one said anything.

"Good." Then he turned on Tomas. "And you. Ya had better wipe that ugly glare off your face before I blow it clean off your skull. I can already tell ya are gonna be a problem and I'm gonna let ya know that I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your brain." His eyes raked the whole group. "That goes for all of ya."

Everyone, even Ed, nodded back with eyes wide in fear. It was clear that Buck Dixon was a force to be reckoned with and no one doubted what he said. He wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who got in his way.

* * *

Daryl nearly spat out his mouthful of peaches when Merle came up behind him and slapped him hard on the back as a way of a good morning. He took the chair across from his brother, told Carol thanks when she handed him his breakfast and dug in.

"Did ya see anythin' out there?" He asked, a drop of juice slid down his chin and he quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"Nope, nothin'." Daryl answered.

"It's odd that we haven't seen anythin' for a couple days." He slurped some of the juice from the can. "I got an uneasy feelin' about it."

"Me too."

"I say we keep a sharp eye on all them windows and make sure our women don't leave the house."

Daryl agreed and glanced over at Carol, who was chatting with Maggie. A smile was on her face, but her eyes were sad. She looked so tired, as well, and he knew she didn't sleep well at night.

Nightmares.

"I'm gonna tell Maggie to start packin' up all the food stuffs jus' in case we gotta get outta here quick." Merle stood up. "Why don't ya and Carol get some rest? We'll wake ya if anythin' happens."

"Alright." He stood up, too and walked to Carol's side. Maggie had gone to Merle and together they started putting away the cans of food. "Let's get some rest."

She nodded and followed him wordlessly to their bedroom. They didn't even bother changing clothes and slipped under the blankets in the clothes they had on now. Their shoes rested right next to the bed and were easily accessible.

Carol lay on her side, facing away from him. Something was wrong, he could tell. He sidled about to her back and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"What's the matter, darlin'?" He murmured into her hair.

"Nothing." She sniffed. "I'm just tired."

"Like hell it's nothin'." He propped himself up on his elbow and forced her to turn to her back and look at him. "Ya can tell me, Carol."

Her eyes shone with unshed tears and her fingers clenched the blanket.

"My dad is dead, Daryl." She finally sobbed. "He's dead. My friends are dead and my students. Every time you and Merle step out that door, I'm afraid you'll be killed. You're the only thing I have left in this world, now and I couldn't stand it if you were gone."

"Shh." He gently cupped her cheek. "Nothin' is gonna happen to me. Promise."

She looked away from him, tears now falling down her cheeks. "You know you can't promise something like that."

"You're right, but I'm gonna try my fuckin' hardest to make sure nothin' happens to me or you." He tilted her face back to look at him. "But ya gotta promise me somethin'."

"What?"

"If somethin' does happen to me, ya have to promise me that you won't do somethin' stupid like kill yourself. Alright?"

She nodded. "I promise."

"You're a strong woman, Carol." He smiled. "And if anyone can beat this world it'll be you."

"And you, too, Daryl Dixon." She wrapped her arms around his neck but didn't pull him closer. "You have to promise me that you won't kill yourself if anything happens to me, too."

"Nothin' is gonna happ-"

"Shh." She pressed a finger to his lips. "Promise me."

"Promise."

"Good." She smiled and pulled him down for a kiss. "Now, let's get some sleep."

"Or." He kissed her again. "We can keep doin' this. We haven't been together since this shit started." He crawled on top of her, arms resting on his forearms and forehead pressed to hers.

"Daryl!" She half-heartedly tried to push him off her. "Merle and Maggie have to sleep on this bed, too!"

"And I bet they've done it on here already." He began kissing her neck.

"Oh, gross! And they didn't even change the sheets."

"So?" His lips moved to her ear and nibbled on her earlobe.

"Daryl-"

A shout from the living room had both of them scrambling of the bed.

"Shit, little brother. Ya better get your ass out here!" Merle's yell had them running, nearly tripping over themselves as they slipped on their shoes.

Daryl grabbed his crossbow from the doorway and joined his brother by the window looking out into the backyard and the open field beyond it.

"We got a problem." Merle pointed at something in the distance.

Daryl pressed his forehead against the glass and cursed. "Fuck!" There were dozens of them stumbling towards the house. There was too many for the four of them to deal with. They would tear down the house with that number.

"Maggie, Carol!" Merle shouted. "Grab all the clothes and shit. Me and Daryl'll get the food. Put it all in the trucks and we're gettin' the fuck outta here!"

Carol's eyes were wide with panic. They were going to leave the safety of their home? Where were they going to go?

"Carol." Maggie tugged at her arm. "Come on, we have to go." With that, she snapped out of her daze and rushed to help the older girl.

Few minutes later they were all packed and peeling out of the driveway, just as the first walker made it to the house. How many people in that herd had she known? Had any of them been fellow teachers, students?

Tears pricked her eyes as she watched the house she had shared with Daryl disappear. What were they going to do now?

A hand gripped hers and squeezed. She turned to look at Daryl.

"We're gonna be fine, Carol. As long as we're together, we'll be fine."

And she believed him.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**So, I should be in bed now, since tomorrow is my first day of school and all(blahh) but I needed to get this out! I'm going to apologize in advance if my updates don't come as often. Like I said, school is starting. Gahh. **

**Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

They had been on the run for days. Neither brother had wanted to stay in one place for long, since they had only stayed in small canvas tents and sometimes their trucks.

"What we need to find is a house or somethin' that's secluded or surrounded by a fence or some shit like that." Merle pulled Daryl aside to say.

Daryl agreed. "Do you have any place in mind?"

"Maggie said somethin' about her dad's farm. I can't believe we didn't fuckin' think of it before. They have plenty of room and lots of land."

"Do ya think that," he lowered his voice in case Maggie or Carol heard them. "That they are still alive there?"

Merle shrugged. "I don't know, but it's worth a try, right? 'Sides, I think it would be good for my girl to be with her family."

Daryl looked over at his woman. Being on the run was getting hard on her, both her and Maggie and they weren't use to it. The sleepless nights, endless running and the rationed food. Both of the Dixons hunted whenever they could, but when they couldn't find any game they had to dig into their rations of food. It was slowly depleting.

"How far are we?" He wanted to get there as soon as possible.

"I wish I had thought of this sooner, cuz now we're at least a two hour drive from there and that's on clear roads."

An hour-long trip could take up to several hours because of the many abandoned cars they had to maneuver around on the highway. They had managed to salvage supplies from some of the vehicles but most of them had become a hindrance and not to mention usually filled with walkers.

"Alright, let's tell them and we can leave in the mornin'." Daryl adjusted the crossbow on his back and walked over to Carol and Merle walked to Maggie.

"Maggie, girl, I think we're gonna head to your daddy's farm. That a'right?" Merle asked his wife.

"Of course!" She exclaimed with a smile. "I've been wondering how they are doing. They're alive. I know it. Our farm was so excluded from everything, I doubt anyone, or anything, have made there way up there."

"That's wonderful." Carol stepped up beside her. "It would be nice to be in a house again...with real beds." She looked over at Daryl and he gave her a small smile.

"A'right, it's settled. We'll be leaving in the mornin', so how about we set up the tent and head to bed. Me and Maggie will take first watch."

They all agreed and then went their separate ways in setting up camp.

* * *

They had been living out of their car for a week now, but at least they were a safe distance away from Atlanta and the number of walkers they had seen had started to decrease.

Andrea laid as comfortable as she could in the back seat of their car as Milton drove. It would be dark soon and then he would stop so they both could get a good nights rest. Lately, she had started feeling more tired than normal and often slept in the back while her boyfriend drove.

Her hand moved idly over the small bump on her stomach. It was becoming a reality now. There was a baby growing inside of her. She figured that she was almost three months along. Soon, it would probably start to be noticeable through her shirts.

The car suddenly sputtered to a stop and Milton cursed. He rarely cursed, so she knew that it was something serious. She got up and leaned her body in the space between the two front seats.

"What's wrong?"

"We ran out of gas." He raked his hand through his hair and looked back at her.

"What are we going to do now?" Panic began to set in. They should have known this would happen eventually, they had been driving for a week and not once stopped to siphon gas. Either one hadn't really known how to do it.

"I don't know." His forehead went to the steering wheel. "We can't go on foot. We don't have any weapons or anything." His back tensed. "How am I supposed to protect you now?"

She ran a soothing hand down his back and some of the tension went away. "We'll be fine. Let's just rest for now and in the morning we'll figure out what to do, okay?"

"Yeah." He looked up at her and gave her a smile. Then he opened his door and climbed into the back with her. Reaching over, he gathered her in his arms and pulled her close.

She made sure his hands didn't go anywhere near her abdomen.

* * *

"Axel and Oscar are gone, Buck." Ed walked up the large man, a rifle clenched in his hand as he surveyed the camp.

There were only five of them now.

"They left right after we dealt with that other survivor group." Ed continued. "I don't think what we did sat well with them."

Buck turned to him, finally. "Well, fuck 'em, then. Ya gotta do shit like that to survive. They weren't gonna share them supplies with us, so we had no choice but to kill 'em." He looked indifferent as he spoke about the six men and women they had just murdered the day before. " 'Sides, them two ain't gonna last long out there by themselves."

"You're right." The younger man agreed. "Tomas wants to go out and kill them for deserting. What do you think?"

"Waste of ammo and time. Tomas is a fuckin' idiot."

They both looked over to the Mexican man, who was in a heated conversation with the skinny black man named Andrew. Big Tiny, even though he was nowhere near tiny, sat a few feet away dozing off. The large man had done what he needed too when they had walked up on the small camp of survivors, but hadn't looked happy about it. Axel and Oscar had only gathered the supplies as the rest of the group shot down the survivors.

Buck had thought about killing them as well, right then. They were clearly weak and unsuited for this world. They were a waste of his time and a waste of precious supplies. They should consider themselves lucky they had decided to desert them.

"So, what's our plan now?" Ed sat down next to Buck on a nearby log that was close to the fire. He started to consider himself second in command of their little group.

"Fort Benning, I s'pose. Heard that the army was there protectin' people and shit, but until we get there we're gonna do what we've been doin'."

Ed nodded. "Sounds good. Do you think we should expand our numbers? Maybe have a few more people come along with us."

Buck thought a moment. "We could use a few women, if ya know what I mean. I'll have to think about it the next time we come across a group."

"Alright." He stood up. "I'm gonna tell Andrew to get his ass on watch and I'm going to go to bed."

Buck didn't say anything as he walked away.

Later that night, Ed laid awake in his own tent. He was in his thoughts, much like he always was before he fell asleep. Tonight, his thoughts were about the younger Dixon. He was out there somewhere, he knew it and when he found them, he would kill him. Now, that the world had ended he knew he would never be held accountable for it.

The thought made him smile and he drifted off to sleep, happy.

* * *

"Well, fuck!"

Daryl slammed on the brakes, almost causing Carol to slam into the dashboard, when they drove up to a large snarl of cars and other vehicles. There was no way in hell they were going to go through this. With a huff, he climbed out of the truck, Carol not far behind, and met with his brother and Maggie between the two vehicles.

"Looks, like we got a lot of work to do, little brother."

He grumbled at the thought. All he wanted to do was get to the Greene farm and not have to deal with the fucking highway clean up.

"And while you guys move the cars, Maggie and I can search the other vehicles for things we might need." Carol spoke up and Maggie nodded beside her.

"Sure."

"Fuck no!"

Merle and Daryl said at the same time. Daryl whirled on his brother. "It ain't safe to have them going off by themselves!"

"Well, it ain't safe stayin' with us, neither. They wanna help then let 'em. Jesus."

"We'll be fine, Daryl." Carol placed a hand on his arm. "We have guns and we both know how to use them."

"I don't want ya out of my sight." He argued.

"I'm a big girl, I'll be fine."

"Fine," he said reluctantly. "But at any sign of trouble ya get your ass back here, ya hear?"

She saluted him, a teasing grin on her face. "Yes, sir!"

"Smart ass," he grumbled and leaned down to kiss her. It had been awhile since he had kissed her and it felt good. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close and deepened the kiss.

Merle wolf whistled and Daryl promptly flicked him off.

* * *

Someone was banging on their car window. Andrea opened her eyes, saw a large black man peering inside their car and screamed.

Milton was up in an instant.

The man turned from the window and called over his shoulder. "Hey, Axel. These two are alive!"

"Stay in here." Milton ordered and scrambled out of the car. She tried to grab him back in, but he had moved to fast. She had no choice but to watch the exchange from the safety of their vehicle.

"W-Who are you?" Milton asked and stood to his full height, which was only to the big man's shoulder.

Another man joined him then, he had long strawberry blonde hair and a thin handlebar moustache. He was much smaller than his partner, around Milton's own height.

"We don't want to cause any harm." The black man raised his hands up. "My name's Oscar and this is Axel. We're just looking for other survivors."

Milton narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"To warn them." The shorter man piped up. "There's a group out there that been killin' others for their supplies. We was apart of them for awhile, but when they started killin' we left."

"Is there room for two more in your car?" Oscar asked. "I know we just met, but we need to be putting more space between us and that other group."

Andrea, sensing that the two men meant them no ill will, climbed out of the car and stood by Milton.

"We ran out of gas," Milton said and pushed up his glasses. "I'm Milton, by the way, and this is my girlfriend, Andrea."

They nodded their hellos.

"Looks like we're on foot, then. Would you like to come with? We have guns, not much ammo, though, but we still have weapons."

Milton looked down at Andrea, who nodded her head. For some reason, she knew they could trust these men and if they had guns, she knew they could protect them.

"Alright." Milton agreed. "We have some food we can share with you, if you like."

They looked relieved.

"Thank you," Axel said. "We haven't eaten since yesterday morning."

"It isn't much." Andrea moved around to the trunk and popped it open. "But it's food." She handed each man two granola's bars each and grabbed some for her and Milton.

"We can eat as we walk. If that other group catches up with us...we're all dead."

The couple nodded and grabbed their packs of clothes, while Axel and Oscar each took a pack of food. She gave their car one last sad smile and Andrea followed her boyfriend and the two men they had just met.

* * *

Carol and Maggie had split up. It was something they had both agreed on. They would be able to cover more ground and, hopefully, gather more supplies that were useful in a shorter period. She had shoved her handgun in her pocket and held her knife in her mouth as she rifled through the trunk of a SUV.

Opening up a suitcase, she smiled when she found a pretty, red shirt lying on top. She picked it up and held it up to her. Perfect.

She was about to call over to Maggie, who was a few cars down, to tell her to come over and pick out some clothes, when she heard the older girl scream. A second later, a rotting, smelly body tackled her to the ground and everything went black.

* * *

A scream.

Daryl flew out of the car he was in and had his crossbow ready. That scream hadn't sounded like Carol. It had to be-

"That's fuckin' Maggie!" Merle shouted and he was off, Daryl not far behind. He knew they shouldn't have let them go on their own.

They hadn't gone far when Maggie ran up to them, tears dripping down her face.

Where the hell was Carol?

"Shit!" Merle cursed. Behind Maggie there was dozens, maybe even hundreds of walkers heading straight for them.

"Where's Carol?" Daryl shouted.

Maggie looked at him and saw the tears hadn't stopped. "I saw her go down. One of..." A sob escaped her mouth. "One of them tackled her and..."

_NO!_

"I wanted to help her, but one of them grabbed my arm and I had to run. I'm so sorry, Daryl."

_NO!_

He shot off towards the herd, maybe he could save her. Maybe she wasn't bit. Maybe...

He felt a strong hand grab his arm and pulled.

"The hell ya doin', baby bro? Are ya tryin' to get killed?"

"Fuckin' let me go!" He pushed at the arm that felt like steel as it wrapped around his waist. "I have to get her. I have to save her."

"She's gone."

"No!" He yelled. "No, she ain't! Now, let me go!"

"I-I can't." Merle's grip tightened. "I can't let ya go into that. They'd rip ya to pieces in seconds. That's not how Carol would want ya to go."

"Well, that's how she's gonna go if I don't get to her." Tears pricked his eyes and he watched as the herd drew nearer. Deep down he knew that there was no way she could have survived all those walkers, not if one had tackled her to the ground. They would have been on her in seconds.

"Carol..." He sobbed and slumped in his brother's arms.

"Come on, Daryl." Merle tugged at him. "We have to go now before they get us."

Daryl didn't want to move. He wanted those things to get him. He'd be with Carol if they did, but he had promised her. Promised that he wouldn't take his life.

But then again, he had promised that he would protect her. What good had that fucking promise been?

Finally, with one last look at the herd, that fucking herd, Daryl ran after his brother. They all climbed into Merle's truck and drove away. Walkers had grabbed at the truck, but were soon left in the dust when the older Dixon floored it.

Maggie sobbed into her husband's side.

Daryl sat on the other side of her, eyes focused on the side mirror and watched, as the walkers grew smaller. Silent tears coursed down his cheeks.

Carol was gone.

* * *

Carol opened her eyes and all she saw was white. Tears pricked her eyes. She was in Heaven, she just knew it.

_Daryl..._ She'd never see him again.

Suddenly a face appeared in front of her. A pale face with blood smeared across it. She screamed and tried to scramble away. This wasn't Heaven if those things were here. The walker lunged for her, but she moved out of it's way.

Her back slammed into something hard and she looked to see that it was a tree. Where was she? Glancing down at her clothes, she saw they were covered in blood...and other things. She shuddered at the smell. Had she been bitten? She didn't feel any pain. Was that part of the disease? No pain?

The walker appeared in front of her again, but she was too slow. She screamed as one hand grabbed at her arm, while the other...covered her mouth?

Now, it was speaking.

"Carol, honey, shh!" The grip tightened. "If you don't stop screaming, there's going to be more of those things coming at us and I barely got you out of there the first time."

That voice. It sounded so familiar.

No! It couldn't be! Then, that would definitely mean that she was in Heaven. She studied the walker(man?) in front of her and suddenly she knew who it was.

"Dad?"

* * *

**So, did any of you think I killed Carol? If you did, then that was my goal haha. I could NEVER kill of Carol, though. I love her too much and this IS a Caryl story. How would that be possible if one of them was dead?**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I am so sorry for the wait. School started this week and I was pretty busy with that and this weekend I had my grandma's wake and funeral to go to. :( But now, I'm back to writing and hopefully my updates will go back to normal but I'm not too sure. I'll try, though.**

**I hope you all enjoy and I'm sorry if it feels rushed!**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

The Dixon brothers and Maggie set up camp several hours later. The unexpected herd had caused to them to go out of their way by several miles. Once they had deemed it safe, they unload their one truck, set up the two tents and started a fire.

Merle had borrowed Daryl's crossbow and went off hunting for something for supper. The younger brother hadn't even acknowledged the fact that his older brother had slung his weapon over his head. All he focused on was the fire crackling in front of him. He hadn't said one word since they had escaped the highway.

Carol was dead.

Gone.

He was never going to see her again.

The thought caused a sudden sob to escape his throat and he sensed Maggie looking at him from her spot on watch on top of the truck. He ignored her. He knew she was upset over the loss of her good friend, but he really didn't feel like talking about it. Not with anyone. Not even his own brother, who had tried to pull him to the side to do so.

Daryl shrugged off the comforting hand and stomped away to his present spot by the fire. He wasn't going to talk to anyone. They had left her. _He_ had left her. What if she had screamed for him to save her? What if she had been alive and watched as they drove away?

God, he just wanted to kill something. Anything.

That was when he finally noticed his crossbow was gone. Fucking Merle must have taken it with him. It made sense, he guessed. Didn't want to go out hunting with a gun.

"Daryl?" Maggie called to him. "Do you want anything to drink? I have some water over here, if you want one."

He shook his head and didn't even look back at her. He pulled his knees up to his chest and placed his forehead on them. Tears shimmered in his eyes, but they didn't fall. He had cried for Carol in the truck as they drove off and he'd probably cry for her later, but he wouldn't cry now. The last thing he needed is for Maggie to ask him if he was all right.

He wasn't and never would be as long as Carol was dead.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm not dead." Carol whispered as she walked alongside her dad, who was still covered in gore.

"Thank God, you're not." Marc went to wrap an arm around her, but remembered he was covered in Walker guts. "Sharon and I were so worried for you and Daryl when everything started happening."

"Where is Sharon, anyway?"

"A little further ahead." He pointed. "I decided to look for some supplies because we were running low. I am so glad I did. I wouldn't have seen you, then."

"Did you see my friend, Maggie, too?"

"No." He shook his head. "All I saw was you and that herd of walkers. I knew I had to get you out of there as soon as possible. I didn't mean to knock you out."

"I could have killed you." She said. "If you hadn't knocked me out, I would have thought you were a walker and I would have probably shot you. Why are you covered in all that?" She gestured to all the guts and grimaced.

"The walkers don't bother us if we smell like them," he said. "We found out early on when we were traveling with some young black woman with a sword. She sliced a walker and its guts went all over her. The other walkers ignored her after that and went after me and Sharon."

"Is she still with you?" Carol carefully stepped over a fallen branch and looked over at her dad.

"No," he said, sadly. "We got separated by a herd a week ago. I just hope she's all right. She saved our lives as we got out of Florida and we still owe her."

Carol wanted to meet this woman, now that she knew of what she had done for her family. Maybe one day they would meet.

"So, is Daryl still...?" He trailed off, but she knew what he had been asking.

She nodded. "He was with me on the highway." She gasped. "He probably thinks I'm dead now."

"We can't go back. He'll be long gone by now. That herd was large and he would have had no choice."

"I have to see him again." Tears sprang to her eyes. "I have to let him know that I'm still alive."

"We'll look for him, but...I can't guarantee that we'll find him."

That was when she finally remembered. "The Greene farm!" She exclaimed with a smile. "They'll be going to the Greene farm. That's where we were heading before the herd. Do you know where that's at?"

He thought a moment. "I think so. It's a several miles away, but we could probably get there in a few days."

She wanted to jump for joy. She was going to be reunited with Daryl again. He'd know she was alive and they would be together. Suddenly she paused and looked over her father.

"I won't have to cover myself in that, will I?"

* * *

Andrea's feet ached and she knew they had to be swollen. They had been walking for what seemed like miles following the two convicts, because that's what they were. The orange jumpsuits had given them away the moment they had seen them, but for some reason she hadn't felt any malice from them and had decided to trust them.

They had guns and so far had kept the couple safe. She already owed Oscar her life, since he had shot a walker from getting her when she had joined them after she had walked into the woods to relieve herself.

"Oscar," Axel spoke to his fellow inmate. "We need to find a place to settle soon. The little lady behind us doesn't look like she can go much further."

The big black man looked behind him to see that his friend was right. The blond woman was slowly getting farther and farther behind her boyfriend.

"You're right." He agreed. "Maybe we can find an abandoned car or something to hole up in. Anything that will keep us from being completely exposed."

"Got it." Axel nodded and kept his eyes peeled.

"Excuse me?" Milton said from behind them. "Can we stay there?"

They both turned and saw where he pointed. It was a tiny cabin, probably had only had one occupant before the world ended. It was nearly hidden by the trees, but he had somehow seen it.

"Good find." Oscar clapped him on the back and began the walk to the cabin with Axel close behind. He waited for Andrea.

"Are you okay?" He cupped her cheek.

She gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm just tired and my feet hurt. I'm so glad you found this place." She gave him a quick kiss. "My hero."

* * *

Someone kicked his boot, but he didn't need to look up to see who it was.

"Eat." A plate of food was shoved in his face.

He ignored it. "Ain't hungry." He mumbled.

"Bullshit." Once again, the plate appeared in his vision. "Ya haven't eaten since this mornin'. Ya can't tell me ya ain't hungry, now."

This morning, Carol had been alive. Carol had handed him his breakfast with a smile and a kiss.

"I'm goin' to bed." He stood up so abruptly, he almost knocked the food into Merle's lap. No one said anything as he made his way to his tent. The same tent he would now sleep in...alone. Slipping under his sleeping bag, he was shocked at how quickly he fell asleep.

Several hours later, he found himself opening his eyes and seeing someone outside his tent. He could see their outline as they bent forward to unzip the canvas. The figure was too small and feminine to be Merle and Maggie wouldn't open his tent without announcing herself first.

So, who the fuck was it?

He reached for the knife he let close, just incase anything of the undead persuasion stumbled into their camp.

The zipper slowly went down and he prepared to stab if he had too. The knife was raised above his head.

The tent was completely unzipped and... Carol stuck her head into the tent.

His mouth went dry at the sight of her. She was covered in blood, but she was smiling and _alive._

He couldn't believe his eyes. She was here. She wasn't dead...she was _here._

"C'mere." He dropped his knife and reached for her. Desperate to have her in his arms again, but she pulled away.

"I'm covered in blood, Daryl." She grimaced. "Let me clean up first and then I'll be in your arms all you want." She winked.

He followed her out of the tent and went straight to the truck. Merle and Maggie were nowhere in sight, which was odd since it was their watch, but he didn't worry about it. He had Carol back and that was all that mattered.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

He turned to face her. "I was goin' to see if we had any water and rags to clean ya up with."

"On my way here, I stumbled onto a nearby pond." She grabbed his hand. "Let's go to it. It's only about a five minute walk."

He followed her into the woods and finally he asked the question he had been holding in since she had suddenly appeared.

"How did ya escape from all those walkers?"

"I got tackled by one of them, but managed to kill it before it could bite me. Then, I ran into the woods." She wasn't looking at him. "I should have stayed back and saved Maggie."

He nearly stopped in his tracks. "What are ya talkin' about? Maggie's fine."

"Oh." She looked relief. "I didn't know. I ran into Merle earlier and he looked upset. I thought Maggie had...you know."

"Naw, she was probably jus' in their tent sleepin'."

"Good."

They walked in silence for a couple minutes and then Daryl blurted out, "I'm sorry."

She turned to look at him. "For what?"

"I didn't go after ya. I was goin' to, but then I jus' knew ya hadn't survived all them walkers. If I had known-"

"You didn't." Suddenly her cool hand was on his cheek. "I would have thought I was dead too, if I had seen the size of that herd. I'm glad you didn't go back for me. You would have been killed."

It was true. He knew it was true.

He was about to say something when she suddenly announced, "We're here!"

Daryl looked at his surroundings. Everything was glimmering in the moon's pale light and as far as he could tell, there were no walkers. The pond itself was small and had reeds and various other plants surrounding it.

Carol immediately began to shed her clothes.

"What are ya doin'?" Not that he minded seeing her bare skin.

"I'm taking a bath, Daryl." She lifted her blood-splattered shirt over her head and threw it at his feet. "This is the perfect time and place to do it. Plus, I can really use one right now. I haven't been clean in weeks."

Inch by inch, more pale skin was being exposed and he couldn't keep his eyes off her. It had been almost three weeks since the last he had slept with her and now, all he wanted to do was take her right there.

"Daryl," she slinked up to him. Completely naked. "Aren't you going to join me?" She slipped the crossbow from his back and began unbuttoning his shirt.

God, he needed this. He needed _her._

"I missed you," she said as she trailed kisses across his collarbone. "I didn't think I was ever going to see you again." She pushed the shirt off his shoulders and went for his belt.

He needed to kiss her. So, he cupped her cheeks to force her to look at him. When she did, he gasped.

This wasn't Carol.

Her eyes were milky and sunken. She took one look at him and lunged for his throat.

He woke up, drenched in sweat and Merle calling his name from outside of the tent. Sucking in large gulps of air, he looked around. He was alone. Which was a relief, There was no walker Carol...but then again, there was no Carol, either.

* * *

The next morning, Andrea woke with a headache. She didn't say anything as she nibbled one of the last granola bars and walked next to Milton. The night in the cabin had been one of the best nights since this whole thing had begun and she was reluctant to see her go.

"Oscar and Axel both say that Fort Benning is the safest place we can be right now," Milton had whispered to her as they packed up their few belongings. "They want to get there as soon as they can and I want to, too." He kissed her cheek. "You don't look very well. Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded. "I'm just tired, that's it. Once we get to Fort Benning, I'll be alright." All her hopes were in finding this place.

That conversation had been hours ago and she was feeling worse. The headache pounded at her temples, her stomach groaned in hunger and she could no longer feel her feet.

She felt like she was going to faint. Black spots floated in her vision and she reached for Milton, but he was too far.

"Milton!" She cried and then she collapsed.

Milton was at her side instantly and so were the two prisoners. Milton was on his knees, hands roaming her body frantically. She was out cold.

"We have to get her somewhere safe." He looked at the two men behind him, eyes full of fear. "I think there's something wrong with her."

"I think there's a town around here somewhere." Oscar knelt beside him. "It might be abandoned, but I'm sure they'll have medical supplies."

"We have to take her there." He moved to pick her up, but the big black man stopped him.

"I've got her. We need to get there in hurry and we don't need the extra weight to slow you down."

Milton nodded and watched as Oscar picked up his girlfriend almost as if she weighed nothing.

"She's gonna be fine, Milton." Axel placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'll get her somewhere safe before you know it."

A half hour later, Andrea still had not woken up and the three of them now stood in front of a large barricade. Two men stood atop it, guns trained on them. A large wooden door opened and two more armed men walked out, led by a man who didn't appear to be armed at all.

He gave them all a wide smile.

"Well, what do you have here," he said. "More survivors? Good." His eyes landed on Andrea's limp figure and his smile vanished. "Has she been bitten?"

Milton shook his head. "No, she passed out awhile ago. She needs help. Please." He pleaded

The man nodded. "Of course, come in. We have someone that can look at her." He began walking back to the wooden door, then paused and looked back at them the smile back on his face. "Oh, and welcome to Woodbury."

* * *

**Dun dun dun!**

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the wait! School is a bitch and it's only the second week! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I'm not sure I'm feeling this one but the next one will be better. I promise! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

One of the 'nurses' stepped out of the room they had put Andrea and walked up to him. She was rather young looking, probably only a little older than him, and had her black hair cut to her chin.

"Milton?" She asked, looking down at him since he was slumped against the opposite wall. It had been an hour since they had put Andrea in there and he had been anxious to know how she was doing.

"Yeah, I'm Milton." He scrambled to his feet and stood face to face with the woman. "How is she?" He felt like he was in an actually hospital waiting for the doctor's results, but in truth it was just a small inn whose rooms had been converted to infirmaries.

The woman smiled. "She's doing fine, just a little dehydrated and the baby is doing fine, as well."

"Baby?" He blinked in confusion. What baby? They hadn't had a baby with them when they had come here. What was this woman talking about?

"Oh, I'm sorry," her eyes went wide. "I thought you were Andrea's-"

"I am her boyfriend."

"And you didn't know she was pregnant?"

"No." He shook his head, not really grasping what was happening. It was all so sudden. "Do you know how long?"

"Hmm," she covered her chin in thought. "By the size of the bump, I would say around three months. I'm not sure, though, I've never been pregnant."

Milton tuned her out as she rambled on about her husband and babies. Andrea was pregnant? She was pregnant with his kid and she had known. There was no way she hadn't and she had kept it from him on purpose. It explained how she had been acting lately. But, why would she keep it from him? It was his.

He clenched his fists. He had a right to know. What if Andrea had died? Then he would have never known about the son or daughter he'd never had. How long was she going to keep it a secret? Until she couldn't anymore?

"You can see her now," the woman must have noticed he hadn't been paying attention and only looked slightly annoyed about it. "She's awake and asked about you."

He didn't even answer or look at the woman; he just walked by her and entered the room where Andrea was in.

The moment he stepped in, she gave him a soft smile, but that smile faded when she saw his expression. She knew that he knew.

"Milton, I'm so-"

"Why?" He crossed his arms. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

She didn't look at him and focused her attention on the blanket in front of her. "I didn't want you to worry."

"You didn't want me to worry?" He remained standing in the same spot and didn't come near her.

"We were moving into a new apartment, we were still in school and when I finally was going to tell you, this crap started."

"Those aren't good excuses, Andrea."

"What?" She looked at him in surprise. "But I-"

He unfolded his arms and stared at her with anger and pain in his expression. "You should have told me the moment you found out. It's my child, too."

"Milton, I-"

"I'm glad you're alright, Andrea." Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the door.

* * *

An hour after she had been plowed to the ground by her own father and separated from her friends and lover, Carol and Marc stumbled, tired, into the little camp the Spencer's had set up.

There was one small tent, it looked to be only a one person tent, and a small fire, which Sharon was cooking something over. She looked up in alarm at the two and then broke into a smile when she saw them.

She went to Marc first, giving him a quick kiss. Fortunately, his face was walker gut free. Then she went straight to her stepdaughter and engulfed her in a large hug.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed. "I can't believe he found you!" She quickly looked her over and gave her another bone-crushing hug. "You were the reason why we started heading up here. You and Daryl. We had to know you guys were all right." Stepping back from her, Sharon looked around with a frown. "Where is Daryl?" Her face fell. "Is he-?"

"No." Carol quickly reassured her. "We got separated from them."

"It's my fault, actually." Marc spoke up. "When I walked up to the highway, all I saw was her and a herd and I knew I had to get her out of there. I didn't find out until later that Daryl, his brother and his brother's wife were on the same highway."

"Oh dear." She gasped. "How are we going to ever find them?"

"We heading to the Greene farm, before we got separated and I'm sure that's where they will be heading now."

"We plan on leaving in the morning." Marc had grabbed a rag and started wiping guts from his arms and neck. "Is that okay?"

"Of course!" Sharon agreed. "We're down to our last can of beans and I know they have to have some supplies there."

Carol nodded. Hershel was a smart man and the fact that they had a farm with livestock and crops helped them. She just hoped that everyone was still alive.

"Okay, Carol, why don't you take the tent for the night? Sharon and I will keep watch." Marc wrapped on arm around his wife's shoulders and looked at his daughter.

"I can help take watch if you get me up for it."

Both of them shook their heads. "No, we got it, honey." Sharon said. "You look exhausted."

"Are you sure?" They had been walking in the woods for a while; her dad had to be tired, too.

"We're sure. We don't sleep much anymore, anyway."

"Okay. Thanks." Carol gave them each a hug and went to settle down in the tent.

It was small, but she fit. There was one thin blanket and a small pillow. It was the most comfortable bed she had ever laid down on. She could barely keep her eyes open once she laid her head down on the pillow.

"I'm going to see you soon, Daryl. I promise."

* * *

Daryl lagged behind Merle and Maggie. Their truck had run out of gas a couple miles before and now they were on foot, backs weighted down with their left over supplies.

"At least we're almost there," Maggie had announced when the truck had sputtered to a halt. Merle had agreed and he hadn't said anything. He hadn't spoken a word since Merle had tried to get him to eat and the couple hadn't talked to him since then either.

He was grieving and last night's dream hadn't helped _at all._ It had been so real, though. It had felt like she had been there, talking and touching him. But it wasn't. She would never be real again. She was dead. He had failed to protect her.

"Hey," Merle called back to him. "If ya don't hurry it up, one of them walkers is sure gonna get ya!"

"Let 'em." He mumbled, but quickened his step.

The trio came to a stop right at the beginning of a dirt road. It looked familiar to him.

"Daddy's house is about a mile down this road." Maggie said.

Both Dixon brothers nodded and without another word to each other, they began walking down the road. Daryl knew that he should be relieved that they were going to be somewhere safe, but he wasn't.

Carol should have been by his side.

* * *

Hershel Greene was out on the front porch with his youngest daughter when the group of three came into view. If had been younger, he would have run out to meet his daughter, but because of his age he stood on the wooden porch and watched them approach.

The moment Beth saw her sister; she let out a small scream and flew to her. Sobbing into her older sister's shoulder, she kept telling her repeatedly that she was glad she was okay. Maggie, too, had tears in her eyes as she hugged the blonde girl.

Hershel walked out and greeted the group and as his eyes raked across the Dixon brothers, he noticed a familiar face was missing. Carol. And he could tell by the anguished look on the younger Dixon's face, that she hadn't made it. He winced inwardly at the loss. Carol had been a sweet girl and a good friend to his daughters. It saddened him that she was gone.

"I'm glad you all are here," he said, finally. "I was so worried that... Never mind." He didn't want to pain Daryl anymore. "Anyways, I have two spare rooms upstairs for the three of you. You can put your stuff in there and Bethie has already made us some supper."

"Good thing I'm hungry, otherwise I wouldn't be eating," Maggie teased and ruffled her sister's hair.

"Hey!" Beth swatted at her playfully. "I can cook."

"If you say so..." She playfully rolled her eyes and walked into the house, followed by everyone else.

Once inside the door, Hershel pulled Daryl aside. "I'm sorry for your loss, son."

Daryl didn't say anything and looked at his boots.

"Carol was a sweet girl. She-"

"Don't." Daryl looked up at him and pleaded. "Please."

"Alright," the older man nodded in understanding. "But if you ever need someone to talk too. I'm here." He gave him one last squeeze on the shoulder and left the room.

* * *

Once Daryl had set down his supplies, he slipped of his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed to pull of his boots. Everyone was in the Greene's dining room eating, but despite his protesting stomach, he was not going to make an appearance.

He was going to take advantage of having a bed again, but knew that sleep would not come easy. He wouldn't allow it to, just in case he had another dream with Carol in it.

Throwing the comforter to the floor, he then slipped under the sheet, turned to his side, and faced the window. His arm snaked to the empty space in front of him and wished that he had Carol's warm body to wrap his arm around.

He grabbed the extra pillow and slammed it against the side as Merle's loud laugh echoed through the house. Why the fuck was he so happy?

He was about to climb out of bed and tell his brother to shut the fuck up, when someone knocked on his door.

Who the hell was that? He didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

"Daryl?"

It was Maggie.

"I brought you food."

He didn't even acknowledge her and heard her set something on the night table beside him.

"Ain't hungry." He mumbled, even though his stomach was telling him something different.

She sighed loudly. "You haven't eaten for two days. It ain't healthy."

"Don't care."

The mattress dipped and he was shocked to feel her sitting down beside him. It was clear he didn't want to talk to anyone, so why was she still here?

One of her hands was gently placed on his shoulder. "Carol was my friend, too. It hurts to know she isn't here anymore."

God, he didn't want to hear this.

"You're hurting, Daryl." She removed her hand. "I know how you feel. I lost my mother when I was young and it was the worst thing that could have ever happened to me. For days, I laid in bed and refused to eat or drink. It got so bad I had to be rushed to the hospital. Daddy made me promise to never do that again. He had just lost his wife and he didn't want to lose me too." She sniffed and tears pricked her eyes.

"There a point to this?" He growled.

She ignored his harsh tone. "She wouldn't want this, you know. She wouldn't want you to starve yourself and-"

"How the fuck would ya know?!" He suddenly turned on her. "She ain't fuckin' here! How would you know what she wanted?"

Maggie quickly shot to her feet, startled with his angry outburst. Deep down, she knew that it was long time in coming.

"Daryl-"

"I'm fuckin' fine, Maggie. Now, just leave me be." He turned from her and went back to his side.

She held back her sobs until she left the room. He was hurting so bad and she knew there was nothing anyone could do about it.

* * *

**Oh, to clear something up. Hershel never got remarried in this story. Beth and Maggie had the same mother. There is going to be no Annette or Sean. Still not sure about Patricia and Otis, yet. I already have so many characters to write for, but we'll see.**

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the wait, but there's kind of a lot of stuff going on in this chapter so I hope it was worth it!**

**Now, I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Daryl lay awake for hours, the sun hadn't even come up yet and he found himself unable to fall back asleep. After his conversation with Maggie, he had eyed the plate of food she had left behind, wearily. With reluctance, he had sat up in bed and eaten everything on it.

Maggie had been right; Carol wouldn't want him to starve himself.

Setting the empty plate back on the night table, he turned off the light and went to sleep. His sleep was quickly interrupted when he had another dream with Carol. He had forced himself awake before anything bad could happen and refused to fall back asleep. This was going to drive him insane.

So, for hours he lay away and watched the sun slowly creep through the curtains in his window. When he heard movement downstairs, he decided it was time he got up. Maybe he could go hunting, get some meat for the table and hopefully clear his head.

And if there were any stray walkers that were mercilessly killed by his hand, well then he'd call it a good day.

"Good morning, son." Hershel greeted him from the long dining room table. In front of him, he had a cup that looked filled with coffee and an open bible.

"Mornin'," he shifted nervously on his feet and bit the skin on his thumb. "Um, ya got any meat?"

"For breakfast?" The old man stood up. "I could cook you some bacon, if you want. It's about the only thing I can cook around here." He chuckled softly.

Even though his stomach liked the idea of being filled with bacon, he shook his head. "Naw, I mean, do ya have any meat for supper? I can go out and snag a deer, if ya want."

"Hmm, I haven't had venison in a long while. If you can get us a deer, son, I'd be mighty happy."

He gave him a quick nod. "I should be back in a few hours, in case anyone wants to know where I'm at." He walked to the door, picked up the crossbow he had set there, sling it over his shoulder and walked out the door.

Before he could take that first step down the porch, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"Where the hell ya think yer goin'?" The raspy voice of his older brother cut through the silence of the early morning. Why the hell was he even up at this hour, anyway?

"Huntin'." He tried tugging his arm out of Merle's grip, but to no avail.

"Are ya sure?" He forced Daryl to turn around and look at him.

"What the fuck ya mean, I'm sure?" He brought his other arm up and shoved his brother hard in the chest. It surprised him enough to let him go and he bounded down the steps.

"If ya ain't back in two hours, little brother," Merle called after his retreating form. "I'm going to hunt down yer ass and drag ya back here!"

Daryl didn't even turn around to acknowledge that he had heard, truthfully he wouldn't have been surprise if all of Georgia hadn't heard his brother's yelling.

* * *

"What's all the commotion, son?" Hershel joined Merle at the railing of the wrap-around porch. "I'm sure you've probably woken up my daughters."

"Sorry," he mumbled, but didn't keep his eyes off his brother. When he had seen Daryl leave the house, the first thought that came to mind was that he was leaving. Not just to go out hunting, but leaving the farm completely and never coming back. Carol's death was hitting him hard, which was too be expected, he knew he would be feeling the same if Maggie had been the one to lose her life.

"You thought he was leaving for good, didn't you?" Hershel said beside him.

Merle nodded, carefully hiding the shock of the older man's uncanny ability to know what he had been thinking.

Hershel crossed his arms over the railing and leaned on them. "I think he just needs some time alone. He's dealing with a terrible loss and no matter how much we want to deny it, there's nothing we can do to help him."

"Yeah, I know, but I still wanna fuckin' try."

Hershel placed a fatherly hand on the larger man. "I think all he needs right now, is time for himself. When he gets back, we can tell him that we'll be there for him and that's all we can do."

* * *

"Ed!" Buck's voice bellowed through the small campsite. Big Tiny raised his head from where he was cooking something over the fire, but didn't say anything.

Ed appeared from behind one of their trucks and walked up to the older man. "Yeah, Buck?"

"Tomas and Andrew back from their scout, yet? It's been two fuckin' hours!" The large man was getting impatient. They were running low on supplies and he needed to know if there was anything or anyone around they could loot. He knew he should have gone himself.

"No." Ed answered and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Couldn't the man see that the two former prisoners were not in camp?

"I'm fuckin' stravin' and I sure as hell don't want another can of them God damn beans!" He shouted in the direction of Big Tiny, who flinched at the harshness of his tone. For a large man, he was one hell of a pussy. Flinching at every loud noise.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon." Ed reassured. His own stomach was running on empty as well and he was sick of beans, too. But if that was all they had to eat, then he supposed he shouldn't complain. At least they had food.

"If they ain't back soon, I'm going to look for 'em myself and I'm gonna kill 'em!" With those words he stomped over to his tent and disappeared inside.

Ed wanted to kick something. Why the hell did he think it was a good idea to stick with the Dixon? All he ever did was bark orders and threaten to kill them.

If he wasn't so sure that the man would carry out the threat, then he would have stuck up to him.

Hell, he had even thought of staging some kind of mutiny, but the only person he semi-trusted in their group was Big Tiny and he wasn't even sure of the huge man would lift up arms to their leader. When they raided camps, Ed had noticed early on that most of the large black man's shots missed their targets and he had a feeling that it wasn't because of lack of talent.

Andrew and Tomas were two men he did not trust at all. They mostly kept to themselves and Ed had a sinking suspicion that they were planning something. So far Buck had kept them in line, but he knew it wouldn't take much more for one of them to snap and attack their self-proclaimed leader.

"Yo!" Tomas's voice broke through his thoughts and he looked up to see the two men walk into their camp. "We found something you'll want to know about."

"The hell is it, then?" Buck reemerged from his tent and stood in front of the two men.

"Me an' Andrew found a town of some sort about five miles from here. There seems to be a lot of people inside."

"Armed?" Buck asked.

"Hell yes. They had men on top of these blockades and each had a rifle in their hands. One blockade even had a machine gun." Tomas continued to speak.

"Fuck!" He cursed loudly. "Well we sure as hell can't ambush 'em; we'd be dead in seconds."

"It looks like a pretty nice place." Andrew spoke up. "Maybe we could somehow join up with them and see how everything is being run there."

Buck's face broke out in a grin. "Are ya sayin' we take 'em from the inside?"

Both men nodded.

"Sounds like a God damn plan!"

* * *

"There you are." A sudden voice coming from behind him caused him to jump.

Milton turned to face the visitor in his room. He had his own room, one of the Woodbury people had shown it to him and the sight of the bed nearly had him in tears. Andrea would soon join him in there once she was deemed fit enough to leave the infirmary. He still didn't know what to do about her. She had kept their baby from him and she had no right. He was angry at her and would probably be for awhile.

The man that now stood in his room was the same man who had welcomed them into the town. Milton couldn't recall his name. Had he even given them one?

The man must have noticed the confused look on his face because he said with a smile, "The name's Phillip Blake."

"Milton." He stuck out his hand and Phillip shook it. "I just want to thank you for letting us in here. I don't know what would have happened to Andrea if...we hadn't gotten so lucky."

"It's no problem, son. We were happy to have some new survivors join our town." Phillip walked over to the round table in the room, sat down in one of the wooden chairs and gestured for him to take the other one.

He did.

"How is your girlfriend doing? I haven't had the chance to check on her."

"She's doing fine. One of the woman said she had just been dehydrated and..." He paused, unsure if he should tell this stranger of her pregnancy. But if he was going to let them stay here, then he deserved to know.

"She's pregnant, as well."

"Oh." This perked Phillip up and he sat up straighter in his seat. "Do you know how far along?"

He shrugged. "The nurse said about three months. I didn't find out until today."

"Hmm, this is interesting." Phillip rubbed at his chin. "We don't have any pregnant women here at the moment, so we'll need to go on a supply run to get some things for the baby."

Milton looked up, surprised. "You're going to let us stay here?"

"Of course," he said and stood up. "Us survivors need to stick together. We won't turn you away, but if you ever feel like you need to leave, then we won't stop you."

Milton nodded.

"Well, I must be off. I have other things I need to do. It was nice to talk to you, Milton and I would like to have a little chat with you and the rest of your group later. If that's alright?"

"Of course!" Milton scrambled to his feet.

"Good. See you later." He turned to leave, but Milton called out for him to stop. "Yes?"

"When you go on that run, the one for the baby things please let me know. I would like to accompany you."

Phillip smiled. "Of course."

* * *

"Fuck!" Daryl cursed loudly when the deer he had been tracking for the past hour shot from its spot by a tree. He had been about to shoot the damn thing, but something had spooked it and now, it was off. Again.

Goddamn Walkers.

In the hour he had been out hunting, he had come across five walkers and each one he had taken to using his knife on. The first one he had put down, he probably couldn't even count the number of times he had stabbed it in the head and the same went for the other four. He was filled with so much anger and this was his only outlet.

But now, he knew it he was getting late and soon Merle would be hunting his ass down. He'd find him, too. Daryl wasn't the only Dixon to know how to track.

A loud gunshot echoed off the trees. He cursed again. That was going to attract Walkers from miles away. Who had been the stupid idiot to shoot the damn thing?

It had been close, too. Too close.

A rustling in the thick brush to his left had him whipping his crossbow in that direction, loaded and ready to shoot. When he turned, he was shocked to find himself face to face with the barrel of a gun. So, whoever was the person behind the gun was the idiot who had set it off.

Daryl looked at the man's face and recognition paralyzed him. It seemed that the same thing happened to the man across from him.

"Rick!" A woman's voice called from behind him. "You got it. T-Dog and Glenn are dragging it this way now." A skinny woman with long brown hair walked through the brush and gasped when she saw him pointing his crossbow at the man she had been talking too.

"Who's this?" She asked fearfully stepping behind him.

"Um," Rick started unsure. "Daryl Dixon?" He looked at him for confirmation and he gave him a firm nod.

"Thank God!" He lowered his weapon and Daryl followed suit. "I thought that we were the only survivors anymore. Are you by yourself?"

Daryl shook his head. He knew Rick from school. Though he had never talked to the man, he knew that he had been one of the few that hadn't looked down on him. His friend Shane on the other hand...

Just then an Asian and black man walked through the brush, as well, and he saw they were dragging something behind him. Taking a look, he saw that it had been his deer.

Well, shit.

"That's Glenn," Rick pointed at the Asian. "He went to school with us and that's T-Dog, he lived a couple towns over." Both men looked at him and nodded in greeting. "And this," he continued and wrapped an arm around the thin woman. "Is my wife, Lori."

"Hi, Daryl." She gave him a small smile.

He remembered her from high school, too, but didn't really have an opinion of her. She had seemed nice, he guessed.

"So, you said you weren't alone?"

"Naw, the rest of my group is holed up at the Greene farm a little ways from here." He knew he could trust these people and he knew that Hershel wouldn't mind taking them in.

"Carol there, too?" Rick smiled. "I bet you two got married right out of high school and have two or three little ones running around by now."

Daryl's face darkened.

Rick saw it and the smile fell away. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. Shit, I didn't mean-"

"S'alright." He grunted then turned to Glenn and T-Dog. "Do ya think ya can carry that thing a couple more miles?"

At their nods, he didn't say another word and began walking back to the farm.

An hour later, they all made it back to the farm where Hershel welcomed them with open arms, but declared he had no extra rooms in the house for them. Rick had said it was alright because they had some camping supplies with them.

Glenn gave the older man an awkward wave, remembering him from the short period he had dated his oldest daughter.

"Alright, I'll have you all set up camp and Maggie and Beth will cook this up for us." Hershel announced after they all had introduced themselves.

"Can I help?" Lori asked tentatively from her spot next to her husband.

"Of course." Maggie smiled and motioned for the young woman to follow her into the house.

Daryl had retreated into the house, ignored looks from Merle and went straight up to his bed. He would come down later for supper, but right now he didn't feel like seeing or talking with anyone.

* * *

It was getting dark and their feet had started to hurt hours ago, but there was no masking the hope they felt.

"We're almost there." Marc announced to Carol and Sharon with a smile. "Just a mile down this dirt road and we'll see the Greene's house."

At the news, Carol wanted to take off running. Daryl was there now and she _needed _to see him.

"Do you think they'll let us in smelling like this?" Sharon asked her husband. They had once again covered themselves in Walker guts and much to Carol's relief they hadn't had her join them. As long as she stayed between the couple, none of the walkers had smelled her.

"They'll probably have to hose us off." Marc said.

"Maybe they'll have a shower." Sharon said with a wistful sigh. "What I wouldn't give for one of those, even if it was cold water."

Carol agreed. She never thought she would long for a shower as much as she did now.

Within moments they spotted the large farmhouse in the distant. Carol could barely conceal her excitement she spotted it. A light was lit on the porch and she knew people were there. Knew that Daryl was there.

"Soon," she whispered. "I'm going to be with you soon, Daryl."

* * *

**So, I have decided not everyone will be making an appearance in this story. There will be no Otis, Patrica or Jimmy. There will be no Amy and I'm still on the fence about Shane. We'll see. There are other characters that I haven't mentioned, but I am still deciding if I should include them or not.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm not happy and also happy with this chapter. I feel like it's lacking, but I guess that it all for you to decide. So, in this chapter you might see something a little odd with one of the characters. I'm going to be doing something with this character that I have never seen done in any Walking Dead fanfic before. I hope you all like what I do with him and it will all become clearer in the chapters to come!**

**Now, I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

"How are you feeling?"

Andrea sat up a little more in her bed when she heard the voice at her door. Turning, she saw that it was a man she didn't know. He was tall and had bright blue eyes. His voice had a heavy southern drawl.

"I'm feeling fine. Thank you..." She trailed off, hoping that he would get the hint and tell her his name.

"Phillip Blake." He stepped up to the side of her bed and gave her a smile. "I just talked to Lily, the one who's been taking care of you, and she says that you can join your boyfriend in your room tonight."

"Oh." She was unsure how to react to that. She wasn't even sure if Milton wanted to be with her anymore. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled and took the seat next to her bed. "I just had a little meeting with the three men you showed up here with. If you wish to be citizens of Woodbury, I just ask that you contribute anyway you can. There's many of us here, but there is always something you can help with."

"I can do that." She said.

"Of course, right now you need to take it easy and then in six months you'll be right back in this bed."

"You know I'm pregnant?"

"Milton told me and its good news. A baby is always good news, especially now. So, when the time comes we'll be taking care of you the best we can."

A weight was lifted off her shoulders at that. The past few weeks had been mentally hard on her, knowing that being on the run wasn't good for the baby. Now, they were in a safe place and her baby would come into this world with people who would help take care of it.

"Thank you. I don't know how we can repay you."

Phillip stood up. "How about, if it's a boy you name him after me?" He winked. "Come on," he offered her a hand. "Let me show you to your room."

They stopped a few minutes later in front of a closed door.

"This is your room." Phillip said as they came to a stop. "I'm pretty sure that Milton is in there, right now."

She didn't look at him as she thanked him...again. All she wanted to do was avoid her boyfriend, but knew they would have to talk eventually. She opened the door and found him lying in bed, back to her. With a deep breath, she closed the door, walked to the bed and slipped under the covers.

Milton didn't say anything and she could tell by his breathing that he was still awake. So, she blinked back the tears in her eyes and turned her back on him.

* * *

"Governor!" A Mexican man ran up to him.

"What is it, Martinez?"

He clenched the rifle to his chest. "There's a group of about five men outside. They're all heavily armed."

Phillip's hand went to the gun on his side. "Are they threatening us?"

"No, they want shelter but Shumpert didn't want to let them in with all that artillery and told me to get you."

"Wise decision. We don't need them walking in here with those weapons only to have them turn on all of us."

Phillip followed Martinez outside to the wall and they could hear shouting from one of the five men below.

"Ya best be lettin' us in here soon!"

Martinez turned to his leader. "We suspect he's the leader. All he's been doing is demanding us to let him in."

"I'll take care of him." Phillip took out the gun on his side and once he made it to the top of the blockade, he fired it.

He aimed to miss and the bullet ricocheted off the gravel by the shouting man's feet. Everything went quiet after that. The tall man ordered his men to cock their weapons on the group below and Martinez went to his spot on the machine gun.

"Listen here," he yelled down to the group. "If you want entrance into our fine town, then you better put down your weapons. All of them."

The large black man was the first to throw down his gun and raise his arms. The other four members of his group looked at him in disgust.

"I think you all should follow his example," Phillip kept his gun trained on the big man in front. "We're usually peaceful people, but if you intend to threaten us then I'll have Martinez over here fill you with bullets."

Five pairs of eyes moved over to the machine gun a Martinez sat more firmly in the seat and aimed the gun at them. Four more guns hit the dirt.

"Good." He smiled. "Now, just sit tight and I'll be down there to greet you." Turning to Martinez, he said. "Keep on eye on them."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

The group of men were careful patted down as they entered Woodbury and were led to a set of rooms. As they walked, Phillip introduced himself as the Governor and recited the rules of their town to them.

He could already tell that they would already have some problems with a few of the members, but without their weapons, they weren't much of a threat.

"Here's your rooms." He stopped in front of three empty rooms. "Some of you will have to share. It's all we have left."

The large man didn't look happy.

"Can we get at least some names? Especially if you're going to be staying here."

"Buck." The large man said and walked into one of the rooms and slammed it shut.

"Big Tiny." The large black man said. "Thank you for letting us stay." He walked into his room.

"Ed." And he followed Big Tiny.

The two men that were left seemed to be sizing him up. It made him feel a little uncomfortable and he made note to keep an extra eye on them two and Buck.

"Tomas," said the Mexican.

"Andrew," said the other man and without another words they walked into their own rooms.

Phillip waited until all the doors were closed and ran a hand through his hair. Nine survivors in one day. He didn't mind the numbers, in fact, he was glad, but he couldn't help but feel like he was making a mistake by having these men stay here.

* * *

Dinner had been a quiet affair. Rick's entire group had eaten their platefuls with gusto and Daryl had to guess that they hadn't eaten much since the world had gone to shit. He had grabbed himself a small portion, knowing that he could finish it quicker and could be in his room quicker.

"Where's Shane?" Beth's quiet voice startled all of them. She sank a little bit more into her seat. "I knew you guys were really good friends in high school and I just wondering where he was now. If he's, you know, alive."

Rick set his fork down and looked at his wife. "Shane and I went our separate ways about a week ago. He wanted to go to Fort Benning and we didn't."

"Where the hell were ya gonna go?" Merle asked from his end of the table.

Rick shrugged. "All we were focused on was getting some shelter and food. Figured everyone would be flocking to Fort Benning and they wouldn't have any more room for people."

"So, you let him go alone?" Beth asked.

"Shane's capable of being by himself out there." Rick looked uncomfortable as he spoke and Daryl could tell there was some guilt there. He had left his best friend to live in this world by himself.

The table grew silent after that and no one else had any questions to ask of the newcomers. Daryl finished his food and immediately retreated to his bedroom where no one would disturb him.

Now, he watched as Rick and his group quickly set up their camp in the rapidly growing dark. He was almost half-tempted to grab a tent for himself and set up as far as he could get from everyone. He'd have his own camp and hunt for his own food. No one would bother him and he could live the rest of his life in silence.

* * *

"Carol?!" Maggie exclaimed when she saw three figures set into the light of the porch. Quickly she shot to her feet and ran up to the younger girl.

"Maggie!" Carol's smile grew and she flew at her friend.

"I thought you were dead." The older girl's voice was muffled as she pressed her face into her friend's shoulder. "I saw a walker get you."

"It was my dad." She pulled back.

"Oh, I'm so sorr-"

"I'm right here." The man covered in walker guts stepped forward and the stench of him caused her head to reel.

"He dressed himself in Walker gore, so they couldn't smell him and when he saw me right in front of that herd, he just acted." Carol explained. "He didn't see you or anyone else."

"I'm so glad you're alive." She hugged her again. "Daryl's been-"

"Daryl?" She interrupted her. "Where is he? I need to see him."

Maggie gave her a smile and pointed to the house. "Take the stairs and he's in the last room on the right. He's going to be so happy to see you."

"Thank you!" Then she was off running.

Maggie turned to Marc and Sharon and wrinkled her nose. "It looks like you two could really use a shower."

* * *

Carol stood in front of the last room on the right and carefully pushed the door open. The room was dark, except for a small sliver of moonlight trickling through the crack in the curtains. The light shown on the bed and she noticed a figure huddled on their side.

Daryl.

His back was to her.

She quietly shut the door behind her and approached the bed.

"Daryl?"

* * *

Fuck! He was never going to get any sleep. Every time he shut his eyes, he heard her voice. This time it was coming from right behind him. He wasn't going to turn and see if she was there. If she was, he knew it wasn't real. It was all just a cruel dream.

The bed shifted as someone sat on it and he felt himself tense up.

"Daryl? Wake up."

He felt someone softly shake him. No, he wasn't going to turn over. No matter how real her touch felt.

"Daryl, I know you're awake." This time she tugged on his arm. "Come on, turn around. It's me, Carol." She was pleading with him now.

Suddenly he turned to his back and looked straight into a set of blue eyes that were so familiar to him. His heart ached. Too bad this was all a dream.

Carol smiled when she saw him and cupped his cheek as she leaned over him.

"This ain't real." He said.

"What?" She looked confused.

"This is all a dream." He sat up and looked at her. "This is all a fucked up dream and I bet a bunch of walkers are gonna burst through that door and take you away from me again." He turned from her and sat on the edge of the bed. Once again, his back was to her.

"It isn't a dream." She reached for him, but when she grabbed his shoulder, he shrugged it off.

"Ya say that a lot in my dreams, too."

Just then, she pinched him. Hard.

"Ow!" He jumped to his feet and glared at her while he rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder. "What the fuck?"

She sat crossed-legged on the bed and gave him a smug look. "Oh, did that hurt? I'm sorry." She didn't look sorry at all.

"Hell yeah, that hurt. Jesus Christ ya never-" He froze.

It had _hurt._ You didn't feel pain in dreams.

Her pinch had _hurt._

"It's me, Daryl." She crawled to the edge of the bed and looked up at him. "It's really me. I'm alive."

She was alive. She hadn't been bit, she hadn't turned. She was here and she was alive.

Reaching out, he cupped her cheek and his heart raced at the softness of it. It felt like centuries since the last time he had touched her.

She rose up on her knees and was now eye level with him. "I missed you so much, Daryl." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"God..." He croaked. "I've missed you, Carol. So much..." Without warning, he crashed his lips to hers and it only took her a second to return the kiss in fervor.

He began to push her down on the bed and climbed on top of her. There kiss never broke and his hands began to wonder. God, it had been too long since he had kissed her.

Straddling her hips, he sat up and whipped his shirt off and reached down to do the same for her. Without breaking eye contact, she reached behind her and unclasped her bra. With a flick of her wrist, the piece of clothing joined their shirts on the ground.

His hands went to the button on of her jeans and soon those, along with her panties, pooled on the ground, as well. It had been so long since he had her and he wasn't going to waste anytime. She was back with him and he knew that they would have time for slow later.

She didn't seem to mind their pace and helped work him out of his own pants and boxers.

Both of them laid there panting and naked. She felt him brush along her inner thigh and moaned. With a smirk, he reached down and began to tease her.

"Daryl," she whined, but when one of his fingers slipped insider her, she arched her back and moaned again.

He started to work her, but one of her hands shot out and grabbed his wrist to make him stop.

"Inside me." She growled. "Now."

Looked like he wasn't the only one who wanted to speed things up, so he met her lips in a kiss and pushed inside of her. Both of them froze at the feeling of finally being connected.

"Too long." Daryl mumbled into her shoulder. "I never wanna go this long without ya. Ever."

Her arms wrapped around him and she pulled him closer. "Me too."

With another kiss, he began to move.

* * *

Hours later, they laid close together. Carol's head was on his chest and she traced patterns on it with her fingers and he had his arm wrapped around her.

"I love ya." Daryl whispered as his hand ghosted along the smooth skin of her back. "And ya better promise me you'll never leave me again."

Carol raised up on her elbow and cupped his cheek. "I love you, too, Daryl." She kissed him. "And, I promise."

* * *

**Yay, they are finally reunited! I'm sorry that it took so long, but now they are together and nothing will ever tear them apart! :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**So sorry for the wait, but I hope this chapter is worth it and I hope you all enjoy reading it! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Andrea woke up alone in bed, the side Milton had been on was cool to the touch and she knew he had left the room a while ago. Was this going to be another day of him not talking to her? She deserved it, she knew, but she missed him already.

A soft knock sounded on the door and she called out for the person behind it to enter. Phillip Blake, the man who had helped save her life and who was letting them stay in this safe place, strode through, a smile on his handsome face.

"Good morning," he greeted with his hands behind his back. "Milton and the rest of your group are done at the diner down the street eating breakfast."

"Diner?" She asked, confused.

"Yes, we converted the couple restaurants in this town to places where we could feed our citizens. The food isn't anything special, but it's food."

Her stomach rumbled at the mention of breakfast and she threw the covers off her legs. Glad that she was still fully dressed.

"I'll have someone bring you and Milton more clothes later, but for now let me show where they are."

"Okay." She climbed out of the bed, smoothed down her hair and followed the man out the door.

Walking side by side with the Governor, Andrea observed the way he greeted the other survivors. Each of them wore smiles as they waved at him and she wondered how many of them he had saved from death. All of them?

"What's on your mind?" He asked, glancing down at her.

"Do you have a family here?" She blurted out, and then quickly covered her mouth. What a question to ask? What if his family had been killed and she had just reminded him of the fact?

"No," he answered. His tone didn't have any sadness in it. "I did have a girlfriend before all of this went down, but she left me when the disease began to spread more. I don't know where she is now."

"I see." She didn't know how else to respond to that.

"I knew she wasn't the one for me. She told me she never wanted any children."

"And you wanted kids?"

"Yeah, but now that the world has ended, my main priority is surviving and keeping the citizens of this town safe."

"That's a good priority." Andrea agreed. "When this baby comes, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it lives." She said with a ferocity that she never knew she had.

"And Milton will help. I can see that in him." He stopped in front of a building and held open the door for her. "I see it in him. He's a good man."

Stepping into the diner, she locked eyes with the man they had been talking about and said, almost as an afterthought, "I know."

* * *

That morning, Carol and Daryl walked down the stairs to join the others for breakfast. Carol was greeted with a bear hug from Merle, who nearly crushed the bones in her body with the force of it.

"Praise the Lord Almighty, ya are still alive!" He swung her around once and then settled her back on her feet. "Ya know, if Maggie hadn't told me that ya were back with the livin', I would have still figured out ya had made it back to us."

Daryl and Carol shared a confused look.

"Our bedroom is right next to yours, baby brother. I heard ya'll going at it last night." He pulled Daryl closer and whispered. "Remind me to congratulate ya later, bro. Ya was obviously doin' somethin' right last night." Daryl shoved his older brother away.

Carol was clearly horrified. "Merle Dixon, you did not hear us last night!"

"Heard what?" Marc asked walking into the room, Sharon closely behind him. Both of them were clean and smiling.

Carol's face got even redder. "Nothing, Dad." She mumbled, then grabbed Daryl's hand and retreated to the breakfast table.

Merle laughed at their retreating forms and turned to come face to face with an angry Maggie.

"Merle Dixon," she hissed and stabbed him in the chest with her finger. "They just got reunited last night after he thought her dead; you shouldn't have gone and embarrassed them like that."

"Oh come on, darlin'." He threw his hands up. "I was jus' havin' a little fun with them."

"Well, you could have waited a couple days, at least." She moved to walk away from him, but he grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"How about we return the favor, tonight?" He smirked.

She shoved him away. "How about I make you sleep on the couch?" With a smirk of her own, she slipped her arm out of his grasp and joined the rest of the group at the table.

* * *

Andrea took a seat next to Milton and her heart fluttered when he greeted her with a smile. Maybe things would be all right between them, after all. She turned to Axel and Oscar and said good morning to them. They returned the greeting.

"Do you mind if I join ya'll? I have yet to eat today." Phillip stood beside their table.

"Of course," Milton spoke up and scooted his chair over so the man could have more room.

"Let me grab a plate and some coffee and I'll be right back." Then he left.

"How are you feeling, Andrea?" Milton turned to her and asked. His voice was soft and she doubted the two men across from them could hear him.

"I'm doing much better." She smiled. "It was nice to be able to sleep in a real bed, again." _With you._

"It was nice," he said and went back to eating his food. Things weren't exactly back to normal, but they were getting there. At least, she knew he didn't completely hate her.

Phillip joined them minutes later with a plate full of food and a mug full of coffee, but when he sat down, he didn't immediately dig in.

"I'd like to talk to you all for a minute," he said.

The four of them set down their forks and gave the man their full attention. Slightly confused and worried expressions on their faces.

"Last night, a group of five men stumbled to our town. They were heavily armed, but we were able to talk them into putting them down." He took a sip of coffee before continuing. "I have yet to have a chance to talk to them, yet, so for now, I would like you to stay away from them."

"How will we know who they are?" Milton asked. "We're new here and don't know anyone."

"Oh, you'll know who they are," Phillip answered. "They all look pretty dangerous. Two of them are still wearing prison jumpsuits, but I have a feeling all of them came from the same place."

Axel and Oscar froze in their seats.

"How come you didn't think we were dangerous when we came here?" The big black man spoke up. "We're wearing them same jumpsuits."

"I have a good eye for people. I knew you two weren't bad people the moment I looked at you."

Neither of the ex-prison mates relaxed, though. The news the Governor had given them had put them on edge and Andrea knew she'd have to ask what was wrong later. Now, it seemed like Phillip was done warning them about the men and had gone back to eating.

Milton gently grabbed her wrist and she looked at him.

"Andrea," he began. "I don't want you wondering around here alone, now. I want you near me at all times. Is that okay?"

She nodded and understood. He had told her that he would do anything in his power to protect her and right now, that was what he was set out to do.

To protect her and the baby.

* * *

Carol helped clear away the plates, much to the youngest Greene's protest. Daryl found her several minutes later, elbows deep in some sudsy water.

"Beth came up to me and said to get ya away from them dishes," he said and wrapped his arms around her waist and set his chin on her shoulder.

"I want to help." She leaned into his chest.

"Not now. Now, ya have to spend every moment with me." He planted a kiss on her shoulder. "Come on," he tugged her gently. "I forgot to tell ya that I ran into Rick and Lori from high school. They're out back."

"Really?" She whipped around and faced him. Surprise written all over her face. She thought she'd never see any from their old school ever again.

He nodded.

"Can we go visit them?

"We can visit them or," he planted a row of kisses on her jaw. "We can go back up to our bedroom and make good use of that bed."

"Hmm," she tapped her chin in mock thought. "This is a hard decision."

Daryl didn't let her think about it longer, because he picked her up bridal style and made his way to the stairs. Lucky for them everyone had gone outside, so no one witnessed him carry her upstairs.

* * *

"The leader of this damn town is a fuckin' pussy," Buck growled to Ed. They stood in Buck's room and looked out the window to the street below. Together they watched as Phillip Blake moved from person to person, greeting each one warmly and with a large smile.

"He's too fuckin' nice and that makes him soft." Buck turned from the window and stalked to his bed. "I gotta admit, he's got a pretty nice set up here. None of them rottin' bastards can get in and they obviously have some heavy artillery."

"What are you planning on doing?" Ed asked.

"Well, I think we should play nice for a couple weeks." He sat on his bed. "Get the tall bastard to trust us and then when he least expects it, we take over this town and kill anyone who oppose us. How does that sound?"

Ed liked the idea. A town of their own to rule, enough weapons to kill anything or anyone and enough food to survive. It all sounded good to him.

"I'll let Tomas and Andrew in on the plan, tonight. Don't know about Big Tiny. I don't think we can trust his ass."

Ed agreed.

"'Sides, Tomas and Andrew know how to get shit done." He stood up. "Fuck, I'll tell them right now." Without another word to the other man, Buck walked out of the room.

Ed returned to looking out of the window and a flash of blonde caught his eye. He pressed his face closer to the window and swore.

It was fucking Andrea! He'd know that bitch anywhere. On a closer look, he saw that that boyfriend of hers, Milton, was next to her. He knew those two had been pretty close to Daryl and Carol.

So, if they were here did that mean the other two were too? If not, he didn't doubt they would know where they were.

Well, it looked like he was going to be having a little chat with those two soon.

Very soon.

* * *

**So, some of you may have noticed something very strange. Phillip Blake seems to be acting very _nice_ and not in a creepy or psychotic way, either. Here's my reason for having him this way. All the characters in this story are younger than they were in the show. This Phillip Blake has yet to have Penny, so that means she doesn't turn into a walker and Michonne doesn't kill her walker self. Some of you may argue that he was crazy before that and I would have to agree with you. But my Governor is not crazy and will not turn crazy. I know that's probably weird to read because in every story on here he's psycho. I mean, he is the _villain._ So, I hope this doesn't turn you off of my story. I just thought I would do something different from everyone else. Let me know what you think!**

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Once again, I'm so sorry for the wait! School, work and other projects have gotten in my way of this update. Now, this chapter was supposed to go in a different direction. A boring one. But I got the idea for this earlier today and I was happy to go with it, instead of the other one. I really really like this chapter and that's a good thing because I haven't really been feeling the last few chapters(you all have probably noticed that) but now I have gotten excited for this story again and I have some cool things planned for the future! :)**

**I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

"Hey, there Blondie," Merle took a seat and greeted his sister-in-law on the porch. She was sitting by herself, eyes focused on the new members to their group in their camp several hundred feet away.

"Don't call me that, Merle." The young woman glared at him. "I do have a name."

"And it's Blondie to me," he smirked and dodged the elbow she aimed towards his ribs. He was glad the girl had warmed up to him. When he had first started dating Maggie, she had been weary of him. Not once had she shown any hostility towards him, but those first few months when he picked up Maggie she would study him carefully. From her eyes, he could tell that if he fucked up and hurt Maggie, then he would have the littlest Greene to deal with.

"Daddy and Maggie are talking with Rick and his group," she folded her knees to her chest and placed her chin on them. This made her look much younger than her twenty-one years. Hell, he couldn't believe she was even old enough to drive, let alone drink. "Rick came running up here after breakfast looking worried."

"Do ya know what's goin' on?" He squinted his eyes to see if he could get a better look at the camp, but only saw a flurry of bodies.

"Nope, they haven't come back yet. I hope it isn't something serious. Rick and his group seem like good people."

"Yeah, from what I could tell they are." He lifted his feet onto the porch railing and leaned back in his chair. "I doubt your daddy would have let them on his land if they weren't."

"He knows Glenn and he knows he's a good man or he was when Maggie was dating him." Beth turned and faced him. "You know, he was really sweet on her. He liked her a lot, I think."

Merle side-eyed her. "Why ya tellin me this?"

Beth shrugged. "I don't know. Just making conversation, I guess."

"Say speakin' of people bein' sweet on one another, where's that boyfriend of yours? Jimmy, right?"

He instantly wanted to take those words back when he watched her face crumble and she buried her face deeper behind her knees. Fuck, he needed to watch his damn mouth. He should have known better to ask a stupid question like that, especially with the world gone to hell like it had.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Beth." His boots hit the wood beneath him with a bang and he scooted closer to the young woman beside him and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I shoulda kept my fuckin' mouth shut."

"He was one of the first to go," she said with a sniffle. "He was out fishing with one of his friends when one of them snuck up on him." She lifted her face to him. "His friend got away and told us about it. We'd been on a break, then, so we hadn't seen each other in a few weeks."

"I'm sorry," he patted her shoulder awkwardly. Merle Dixon was not an expert in comforting people. Hell, if the girl weren't so fragile he'd probably tell her to suck it up.

Beth unfolded her legs and slid closer to him on the bench. "I knew he wasn't the man I was going to marry, but we'd been together for a long time and it hurt to lose him." She turned watery blues on him.

"Yeah, I understand. For two days, my little brother thought his woman was dead and the pain he was feelin' was as plain as day on his face." He had felt guilty as hell those two days because he didn't know how to comfort him. His Maggie had been alright, his Maggie was alive and he had found himself feeling grateful that it hadn't been her taken down by some walkers.

What kind of brother was he?

"I know. I saw."

"I'm about to say somethin' ya probably won' like, but I think ya need to hear it."

She nodded for him to continue.

"With the world like it is, Beth, ya can't really stay fixed on someone's death. It's alright to mourn 'em for a period, but if ya are always in ya head then that's an easy way for ya to get your ass killed. This world is gonna be full of more death and ya jus' gonna have to learn to deal with it."

"I know," her voice was quiet. "I'm going to try. Promise."

"Good." He was just about to get up and see where Maggie had gone off too, when the girl next to him suddenly wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face in his neck.

"The hell ya doin'?" He growled, surprised at the sudden invasion of his personal space.

"Hugging you. Duh!" Her voice was muffled.

"I fuckin' know that! Why?" He kept his arms straight at his sides. He definitely was_ not_ the hugging type.

"You made me feel better about Jimmy." She pulled back and gave him a sunny smile. "I'm glad my sister married you, even though I know Glenn would hug me back."

"They only went out for a week." He took a step back from her. "I doubt if I hadn't come along she would have married him."

Beth shrugged. "You never know." Then with one last smile, she retreated into the house. Merle stared after her.

What the hell was that girl getting at?

And where the hell was Maggie?

* * *

Carol wrote her full name on Daryl's naked chest as they laid in bed together. The blankets were bunched at their hips and a thin layer of sweat gleamed on their skin.

"Do you think we should become valuable members of society again?" She asked and traced after the long scar on his collarbone.

Daryl had his eyes closed and he shook his head. "Naw. I think we should jus' stay here all day."

"Tempting." She laughed softly. "But I think you should go hunting for supper and I should go find Beth and Maggie to help out with lunch."

"Don't wanna hunt," he mumbled and tightened his arm around her. "And I don't want ya to leave."

"I'll compromise with you." She moved to sit up. "How about you go hunting for our supper, maybe get some rabbits for a stew, and once we finish eating supper tonight we can come back to bed and stay here for the rest of the night."

One eye popped open and looked at her. "Hmm, alright. But it's only a deal if ya start supper early and don't hang around to do dishes."

"Deal." She held out a hand to be shook.

"Uh huh, we don't seal a deal with a handshake around her." He pushed her gently back to the bed and rolled on top of her. "We seal it with a kiss."

When she felt him brush against her thigh, already hard and ready even though it had only been an hour since they had last been together, she moaned.

Then a thought entered her mind and she froze.

"Daryl, stop." She stopped him before he could join with her.

"What?" He looked at her, surprise and confusion in his gaze.

"We can't do this anymore."

Hurt replaced the other emotions in his eyes and he moved to roll off her, but her arms tightened around his neck to keep him place.

"I still _want _you, Daryl," she said with a kiss. "But...I haven't been on the pill since the world went to hell."

It didn't take long for him to get what she saying. "Shit!" He cursed. "We haven't been usin' anythin'." This was not the time or place for her to get pregnant.

"I know," she avoided his gaze. "So, until we find some form of...protection, we can't have sex."

"God," he groaned into her neck, his naked body still pressed to hers. "It's gonna be fuckin' torture to try and keep my hands off ya."

"Well, you better unless you want a little Dixon running around."

He lifted up on his forearms and looked down on her, his expression very serious. "Ya know, Carol, I wouldn't mind havin' a kid with ya."

She cupped his cheek and gave him a smile. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she spoke. "I know and I wouldn't mind having your child, Daryl. But now isn't the time. Not with the walking dead trying to eat us every where we turn."

"I understand." He didn't bring up the fact that if she did become pregnant, he would become a worrying mess. He would constantly have to keep on eye on her and make sure she wasn't over doing anything. A baby was the last thing they needed to worry about right now.

Carol pinched him lightly in the side and he jumped with the unexpectedness of it.

"Come on," she said and wiggled her way out from underneath him. "Let's get out of bed and get to work."

* * *

Maggie came running up the porch just as he was about to step off it and Glenn was right behind her. Merle didn't know how he felt about _that._

"Me and Glenn have to go on a run to the pharmacy in town," she said, slightly out of breath.

"Why?" He asked and his gaze shifted to the young man behind her.

"Lori needs some antibiotics and fast. I guess, before they came here she scratched herself on a piece of rusty metal and she didn't say anything until now."

"Is she stupid?" He growled.

"She didn't want anyone to worry, but now it's infected and she has a fever. That's why Rick came running about the house earlier."

"Let me go with ya."

She shook her head. "Rick told me Glenn is quick on his feet and this needs to be a fast job. Besides, we're all ready to go. I just wanted to tell you before I left."

Merle didn't like this. He didn't like his wife going on a run without him. What if something bad happened to her while she was gone?

"Merle." She stepped closer and grabbed his bicep gently. "I'll be fine." She gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll be back in a few hours and I'll have my gun on me at all times."

"Fine." His shoulders sagged in defeat. "But if ya ain't back in two hours, then I'm gonna go out and look for your ass, got it?"

"Got it," she went on her toes and gave him a quick kiss. Then, she turned to the man behind her. "Come on, Glenn, let's go."

Before they could take off in the direction they had come from, Merle yelled after Glenn.

"Hey, Chinaman!"

Glenn stopped and faced him, a scowl on his face. "I'm Korean."

"Whatever." He waved his hand impatiently and strode closer to him. Maggie was already halfway to the camp. "Now, listen up. Ya best look after her, ya hear? Cuz if she comes back with so much as a scratch, I'll be takin' it outta ya ass. Do ya understand?"

Glenn nodded with his eyes wide in fear.

"Good. Now, get and hurry back!"

* * *

Two hours later, Merle was surprised that he hadn't worn a hole in the wooden planks of the porch. His gaze was fixed on the road Maggie and Glenn had rode off on. After they had left, he watched as Rick, carrying an unconscious Lori, walked carefully into the house with Hershel leading the way.

The woman looked pale and there was a thin sheen of sweat on her skin. She didn't look good at all. Rick looked just as bad, but his was because of worry.

Daryl had gone out an hour earlier to go on a hunt and Beth and Carol were in the kitchen putting something together for lunch. Beth had brought him a sandwich, but he had only nibbled on it as he kept his eye on the road.

"She'll be fine," Beth reassured him before she went back into the house, this time to help her dad with taking care of Lori.

He'd only grunted in response. Now, Carol had joined him on the porch and was making small talk with him as they waited.

"Me and Daryl need condoms," Carol suddenly blurted and then slammed a hand over her mouth, horrified.

Merle chuckled, glad for something to keep his mind off his wife. "Ya two already ran out? Ain't surprisin'."

Carol's face grew red and she avoided his gaze. A particular piece of wood seemed to gain her attention. "We haven't been using them."

"What?" He turned on her, shocked. "You're playin' with fire there, girl."

"I know." She sighed. "What about you and Maggie? Have you been-?"

"We used the last one the other night," he said mournfully. No more sex until they could get their hands on another box. "Shoulda told her to grab some when she left."

"If I had known they were leaving, I would have asked, too."

Merle was about to say something, but a dust cloud coming down the road claimed his attention. Squinting his eyes, he saw that it was his wife and Glenn. Fucking finally. He was ready to go out and get them himself.

Maggie skidded the horse to a halt and waited for Glenn to ungracefully dismount the horse.

"Here," Carol called. "Toss me the stuff and I'll run it in."

Maggie did as she was told and dismounted the horse as well. Merle was at her side in an instant.

"Everythin' go alright?" His gaze went between her and Glenn, but neither one was looking him in the eye.

The Korean looked flushed and so did Maggie and her blouse looked rumpled. It hadn't been like that before she left. Merle didn't like what he was seeing.

"Everything went fine," Maggie gave him a smile, that didn't reach her eyes and a quick kiss on the cheek. "We got in and out with no problems." Without another word, she walked into the house.

"Glenn!" Beth called from the house. "I have some lunch for you and Maggie in the kitchen."

"O-Okay!" He quickly walked past Merle and clutched the bag in his hands tighter to his chest. He, too, disappeared into the house.

He followed them and froze when he saw Glenn and Maggie whispering close together in the kitchen. When they saw him standing there, they seemed nervous. Maggie grabbed her food and headed upstairs and Glenn took his out the back door.

Merle got a sick feeling in his gut. Something happened on that run between the two. Something he knew he was not going to like.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Really not much to say about this chapter, except it has lots of dialogue. That shouldn't surprise anyone, though. Most of my stuff is mostly dialogue! I still hope you all enjoy, though! **

* * *

**Chapter 19**

_**The run with Glenn and Maggie**_

Maggie reined in her horse when they reached the front of the only pharmacy in the small town. A sign in the window told them to take whatever they needed. She smiled at the kindness and hoped the owners had made it out all right. They had been friends of her Daddy and they had been good people.

Glenn dismounted and once he was righted on his feet, he offered her a hand but she ignored it and dismounted on her own. She handed him the baseball bat she had thought to bring along, then tied up the horse to one of the posts and then took out her gun for herself.

"Behind the counter is the medicine," she said to him before she entered the building. "I'll go there. You can look around and see if there is anything we might need for later."

"Okay," he agreed and raised the bat up higher. "Do you want me to go in first? Just in case there is anything in there."

"Nope. I got it," she said with a clipped tone. Just because she was a woman didn't mean she didn't know how to handle herself. She had Merle Dixon as a husband after all.

Opening the door slowly, she glanced once more at Glenn to make sure he was ready and then walked into the store gun cocked and ready. It was empty. No walkers in sight. Both of them let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, look for stuff we'll need and I'll be right back." She didn't even check if he was doing as she said.

"There isn't much here," he called to her as he sorted through a nearly empty shelf. "Except some condoms." He grabbed the box and held it up.

Maggie stopped and faced him. She could use those, but he was already shoving them in his own bag.

"So," she said with a smirk. "You plan on using those or something?"

"What?" His face grew red. "U-Uh, no? Maybe."

"Who's the lucky lady, then? There really isn't single woman back at..." She stopped and narrowed her eyes. "Do you have your eyes on my sister?"

"What?!" His eyes widened. "Of c-course not!

She placed her hands on her hips. "Are you saying that Bethie ain't pretty?" She bit back a smirk. It was too easy to get him all flustered.

"N-No! She's, uh, she's, uh, very pretty!"

With a laugh, she patted him on the shoulder. "I was just giving you a hard time, Glenn. But if you see anymore boxes of those, pick them up. I can think of a couple people back at home that will need them." _Me included._

She kept her gun in one hand and used the other to climb over the counter and get to the medicine behind it. There wasn't much, but she felt confident that there was something back here they could use. Lori's health depended on it.

"Found some lotion," Glenn called back to her. "Do you think we'll need it?"

"Grab it. I'm sure it'll be nice to have." She didn't glance his way as she shouted back and focused her attention on the shelves in front of her.

If she hadn't shouted, she would have probably heard the moans and the scrapping of feet. But she didn't and when she turned the corner, to look in a different aisle, something lunged and grabbed at her shirt. The gun was knocked from her hand and she screamed.

It was a walker.

She shoved the walker hard in the chest and kept it's snapping mouth away from her, but it had a firm grasp on her blouse. The aisle was to small to move around in and her head banged against one of the metal shelves.

"Maggie!" Glenn cried and vaulted over the counter, bat raised above his head. With the limited amount of space between the aisles there was no way he could get a swing at the walker. Plus, he also ran the risk of hitting her with it.

"In my pocket!" She didn't dare keep her eyes off the walker on her. "I have a knife in my pocket. Get it out!"

Glenn didn't hesitate. With one eye on the walker and one eye on his destination, he quickly fished the knife from her pocket. He held it up, a little unsure of what to do.

"Stab it!" She cried and narrowly missed getting her face bit off.

Something seemed to snap in his mind and he lunged forward and sunk the knife deep in the walker's brain. It slumped to the ground, blood pooling on the beneath it. Maggie bent over with her hands on her knees and pulled in large gulps of air. That had been _way_ too close.

"Not one word," she gritted out.

"One word to what?" Glenn asked. He, too, was also taking large breaths.

"Not one word about this to Merle. Do you understand me?" She straightened and walked closer to him. Hoping that maybe she could intimidate him.

"B-But, he'll want to know what happened today."

"Then lie." She eyed him a second longer and then picked up her gun. If there were anymore walkers hiding back there, she would be ready.

"But I suck at lying!" He whined. "And I suck at keeping secrets, too!"

"Well, you better start getting good at them!" She shouted back.

An hour later, they had finally cleaned the pharmacy of all that they needed and were now galloping back to the farm. She had prepped Glenn on how to act when they returned and warned him again about telling Merle about the walker.

"He can _not_ know." She hissed when they rode up the porch much later. Merle was waiting for them and at the sight of him her hands began to sweat.

She could have been killed. She could have never seen this man again. This man that she loved so much. When he asked about the run, she had said everything had gone fine and quickly escaped his presence.

Glenn had joined her later in the kitchen and began to whisper furiously to her.

"You need to tell him! I think he thinks we did something while we were gone."

She furrowed her brows in confusion. "What kind of something?"

At the sound of a door shutting, they looked up to see the man they were talking about standing there and watching them with an odd expression on his face. Maggie quickly grabbed her plate of food and retreated up to her room. She couldn't face him right now.

* * *

Buck leaned heavily against one of the brick buildings lining one side of the street. The awning above kept him in the shade and his 'fuck off' attitude kept other people from approaching him. Several minutes before, he had told Andrew and Tomas of his plan to take over Woodbury and was now working on starting the first step.

Make nice to the leader of the town.

He knew that if he was constantly seen as a problem, he would be constantly watched and that was something he did not need to happen. Somehow his men would have to sneak into the armory and snag as much guns as they could. There were only five of them, but if they were able to take out many of the men placed on watch then taking over would be easy.

He just had to find out where they stashed the guns and how to gain access to them without anyone from the town noticing.

"Nice to see you out and about," said a man from his side.

With a barely concealed smirk, Buck faced the man he had wanted to see. Phillip Blake.

"Needed some fresh air."

"It's a beautiful day." Phillip commented with a smile.

"Hey, listen, I jus' wanted to apologize for last night. Me and my men have been strung pretty tight lately and we didn't mean to be so hostile. It ain't the first time guns have been pointed at us."

Phillip placed his hands on his hips. "I understand. This time has been hard on all of us."

"We want to thank ya for lettin' us stay here and if there is anythin' ya need help doin', me and my men will gladly help."

The other man nodded. "Thank you. We can always use the manpower."

"A'right, jus' let me know when ya need us." He turned to walk back into the apartment building he was staying in.

"Will do. Oh, Buck, if you and your men are hungry there is a diner down the street that is still serving breakfast."

"Thank ya. I'll let 'em know." He walked into the building.

Phillip watched him ago, hands still planted on his hips. That man was planning something, he could feel it. He was going to tell Martinez to keep a good eye on him.

* * *

"Look what that Chinaman gave me." Daryl held up a box of condoms with a smile.

Carol looked up from the book Hershel had let her borrow. It had been an hour since they had given Lori the antibiotics and now they were all just waiting to see what would happen.

"Glenn? He told me he was Korean." She placed the book down on the coffee table in front of her and stood up.

"Whatever," he snorted. "Now, I don't have to keep my hands off ya anymore."

Carol rolled her eyes. "Is that all you ever think about anymore? The world has ended and all you care about is sex."

"Well, if I didn't have ya as my woman, then I would think about other things besides sex." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.

She smiled and gently pushed him away. "I think you need to go talk to your brother."

"What?" Daryl stepped back, shocked at the sudden change of subject.

"I saw him walk by awhile ago and he didn't look too happy. I think something's wrong."

He crossed his arms. "Pfft. Him and Maggie probably got into a fight or somethin'."

Carol looked worried. "I don't think so. I didn't hear any yelling. Now, he's just sitting on the porch looking at nothing. You need to talk to him."

"Why?" He didn't care that his voice took on a whiny quality.

"He's your brother."

"But-"

"If you don't go out there and talk to him right now, Daryl Dixon, I will give these," she plucked the box of condoms out of his hand. "To someone else."

"Ya can't-" She gave him a look that stopped his argument dead in it's tracks. "Fine." With a huff he turned from her and walked outside.

* * *

Daryl found Merle sitting on one of the benches on the porch and just like Carol had said it looked like he was staring out at nothing. He had never seen his brother like this.

He sat next to him with a grunt. "What the hell is the matter?" He asked. It was clear he was not happy to be sitting there trying to comfort him. He had better things to do. Like Carol.

Instead of brushing off his younger brother's concern and telling him to stop being a pussy, Merle looked at him and answered. "I think Maggie cheated on me."

"What?" Daryl's jaw almost hit the wooden planks below. Well, that came out of no where.

"Her and Glenn went on a run earlier and when they came back they was actin' mighty weird and her shirt was all fucked up." He placed his head in his hands. "The Asian looked all flushed, like he just got some and neither one would look me in the eye."

"That don't mean she cheated on ya, Merle."

"Then what the fuck does it mean?" He exploded. "I walked in the kitchen to see them whisperin' to each other and she practically ran away from me."

"Well, have ya talked to her, yet?"

"Naw, I've been out here since they've been back," he sighed.

"Ya need to talk to her. She'll tell ya what happened and I sure as hell don't think that she would cheat on ya. She loves ya. She wouldn't have married ya, if she didn't."

Merle looked over at his little brother. "But what if she did? What do I do, then? What would ya do if ya found out Carol cheated on ya?"

He'd kill the bastard she cheated on him with and then, he would... What would he do? He didn't even know. He'd be broken, he knew that. He'd probably go on a rage fit and break everything in sight.

Daryl placed a hand on Merle's shoulder, momentarily surprised his older brother didn't shake it off. "Go and fuckin' talk to her. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstandin'."

A few minutes ticked by before Merle finally stood up. "Fine, but if it's all true then ya are gonna help me bury Jackie Chan's body."

"Carol said he was Korean."

Merle rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Then disappeared inside the house.

* * *

**If any of you thought Maggie cheated on Merle, shame on you! She would never do that to him! Lol. So, I've kind of hit a little snag with this story. I know what I'm going to do with the Woodbury group, but I'm not so sure what I'm going to have happen with everyone at the farm. I have some ideas, but if anyone of you have any then feel free to let me know! :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I am so sorry for the wait and I could bore you with the excuses I have, but I won't. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you all enjoy reading it. Things are going to be getting a little more exciting in the next few chapters, so that makes me happy and I'll probably start updating more frequently Well, maybe. I'll just have to see if my work and school schedule will give me more time to write.**

**I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

Fort Benning had been a lost cause.

Rick had been right. He had been fucking _right_.

The moment his green Hyundai pulled up to the chain link fence surrounding the base, he had known something wasn't right. No one greeted him at the gate and the place looked deserted. So, he took out his gun, shoved open the gate and moved to take a look.

There were several buildings scattered around the area, but he decided to check out the largest one in the center. He didn't make it to the building, however, when about a dozen walkers appeared from the side of the building to his right.

Without thinking, he shot the nearest one and cursed. That had been his last bullet and the sound of the gun had made even more walkers to appear. How could he have been so stupid?

Fort Benning had been full of survivors at one time, but now they were all dead. Or undead.

He stuffed the now empty gun into his belt and took off. His car no longer useful since it had been running on fumes for a few days and had just barely made it to the front gates. Now, he was on his feet, a herd of over thirty walkers had caught his scent and he had no weapon.

It looked like Shane Walsh was fucked.

* * *

Merle made his way up to the room he and Maggie shared and softly pushed on the door. It made no sound as it moved on its hinges and he found Maggie curled up on her side in their bed.

She turned when she heard his footsteps walk up to the side of the bed.

"We need to talk." Was all he said.

She sat up in the bed and looked down at her lap. "Look, Merle, I'm really tired. Can we talk la-?"

"I know somethin' happened on that run and I want ya to tell me!" He made sure to keep his voice down, but anger still could be detected in it.

Maggie still didn't look at him.

He knelt next to her on the bed and gently took her chin in his hand. "Come on, woman." He moved her chin to look at him. "Ya can tell me."

Her eyes watered. "You're not going to like it, Merle."

His heart sank. "Ya can tell me whatever it is and I'll promise not to get made at ya." _The Korean kid on the other hand..._

"Okay," she took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. "While we were at the pharmacy a walker...a walker almost bit me."

That was it? That was what happened on their run. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then suddenly realized that she could have _died. _She could have died on that run and he could have never seen her again.

"Ya ain't goin' on another run," he said firmly. There was no way in hell he was going to lose her and if that meant keeping her here, then that's what was going to happen.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you!" She flung the covers off her angrily and climbed out of bed. "I knew that's what you would tell me!"

Merle stood up and stood face to face with her. "Ya almost died out there, Maggie!"

"I can take care of myself."

"That's why ya had yerself a close call, then, huh?" He angrily crossed his arms and glared at her.

"I wasn't paying attention for a one second, Mer-"

"That's how ya can get your ass killed!" He nearly exploded. "One second is all one of 'em fuckers need and then they're takin' a bite out of ya."

"It's not going to happen again."

"You're damn straight it ain't goin' to happen because ya ain't goin' back out there!"

She shoved him. "You can't tell me what to do, Merle Dixon! You may be my husband, but you are _not_ my owner. If I want to help out and go on a run, then I will damn well go on that run!"

He was stubborn and so was she. Yelling at her and telling her that she couldn't leave the farm was not going to help. He decided to try a different route.

"I can't lose ya, Maggie," his voice went unnaturally soft. "Every time ya go out there, there is always a risk of you not comin' back. I couldn't bare that. Ya saw how my brother was actin' when he thought Carol was dead. That would be me if your ass got killed."

Maggie's face softened and she stepped closer to him. "Honey, you just have to let me do this." She cupped his cheek. "I know this area the best and I can really be of help to every one if I went to gather supplies."

"I know," he said, defeated. He knew that he had lost this argument. Deep down, though, he always knew he would.

"I'll tell you what. How about every time I have to leave the farm, you come with me?"

He could do that. That way he would be able to keep on eye on her and make sure nothing got her.

"A'right. I suppose that's the best I'm goin' to get, right?" He looked up and gave her a slight smile.

"Yep!" She smiled back and kissed him.

* * *

Milton placed a gently hand on the slight bump on Andrea's stomach. It was still hard to believe that they were going to have a child.

He was going to be dad.

"Do you think it's a boy or girl?" He asked, burying his face in her hair and kissing her jaw. They laid together in the bed they shared, on their sides, and she had unexpectedly grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach.

She no longer had to hide her pregnancy and this was the first time he had felt the evidence of a life growing inside of her.

"I don't know," she answered sleepily. "I don't care what it is. I want to have either one."

"I bet if it's a girl, she'll be just as beautiful as you."

Her lips turned up. "And if it's a boy, then I bet he will get your smarts."

A knock sounded on their bedroom door and Milton moved to answer it. Phillip Blake stood in the doorway with a kind smile on his face.

"I'm sorry to bother you," he peered over Milton's shoulder at Andrea, still on the bed. "I didn't interrupt your nap, did I?"

"No," Milton shook his head. "We were just talking. Is there something you need one of us for?"

"Well, not at the moment. I was just in the neighborhood, so to speak, and I suddenly remembered the run that we have scheduled tomorrow. We're running low on supplies and were planning on going to a nearby town to acquire them." He looked over at Andrea again, who still laid down on the bed, but was listening intently. "I know that the baby isn't due for awhile, but I was thinking that you could join us and maybe grab a few things if you see them."

They still had at least six months before the baby would make its appearance, but Milton knew it would be a good idea to go with Phillip and his men and gather some of the things they would need in the future.

"Of course. Just let me know when you'll be leaving and I'll be there."

"Good," he replied. "We'll be leaving some time after breakfast and if everything goes well, then we will return by night fall."

"That sounds good." Milton was itching for ways to help the man that had taken them in and kept them safe. This was the perfect opportunity.

"I will see you, then." With one final wave, Blake walked from their door and down the hallway.

Andrea was suddenly behind him, arms wrapped around his midsection and forehead set in the middle of his back. "Be careful tomorrow, " she whispered. "I don't know what I would do without you."

* * *

"Buck!" Ed banged on the man's door and waited for him to answer. "Buck, I got something I have to tell you." He called through the door when he realized he was being ignored. "It has something to do about your sons."

The door flew open immediately and Buck stood there glaring. "What about them?"

"I just saw Andrea and Milton." When the older man only gave him a look, he continued. "They were best friends with Daryl and Carol. I bet they know where they are right now."

"Hmm," Buck rubbed his chin in thought. "They might. But I know they ain't goin' to willingly tell ya where they are."

"They won't. But I heard Martinez talking about a run they were going on tomorrow with Blake and I overheard them say Milton was tagging along. I volunteered to go a few minutes later."

"A'right. What do ya plan on doin' then?" He crossed his arms.

"I'm gonna get him alone and demand he tell me where they are."

Buck nodded in approval. "Do ya know if Phillip is goin' with them? It would be a perfect plan to start executin' our plan and shit."

"I don't think so."

"Well, fuck." Buck leaned against the door frame."I guess I can always try and get information outta that boy's woman. I saw her a couple times years ago and she ain't that bad lookin'."

Ed made a face. "Isn't she a little too young for you?"

Buck shrugged. "A man has needs and if she don't tell me what I want to know, then I'm just goin' to have to use her to take care of 'em."

Ed didn't feel sorry for the blonde haired woman. He hated the bitch and knew that she was part of the reason why his ass went to jail his senior year. He could have been playing in the pros if it hadn't been for her.

* * *

His breath was coming out in fast, short bursts, his sides hurt like hell and he didn't know if he could outrun the herd any longer.

Shane tripped over a root, _again_ and almost just laid there to let the walkers get to him. After he had fled Fort Benning on foot, the thirty or so walkers had followed him. They had been so far behind him that he didn't view them as threat, but when he escaped into the woods he instantly found out that there was even more walkers hidden in there.

So, for several hours he had been running for his life and was quickly coming to the conclusion that he should just stop running and let himself be eaten.

"Shit!" He screamed into the open air, not even caring that it probably attracted more walkers. He was going to die, anyway.

One walker, that had gotten a little too close while he had picked himself up out of the dirt, lunged at him and he barely had enough time to sidestep it. His foot kicked at a thick branch on the ground and he quickly picked it up and swung.

The walker went down and he fell to his knees to smash the bastard's brains in. That hadn't been a good idea, however, because it took up the last ounce of energy he had left.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and he whirled around to see a face full of snarling teeth come flying at him. He fell to his back, the walker falling on top of him, and struggled to shove the thing off him. But for being the undead, they were fucking strong.

He was just about to let his arms go lax and let the thing take a chunk out of his neck, when the tip of a sword suddenly protruded through the walker's head and its body fell limp.

Shane threw the thing off him and scrambled to his feet to see who had saved him. It was a woman that much was clear. If there was anything Shane Walsh knew, it was the figure of a woman. She wore a cloak that obscured her face and trailing behind her was a walker on a chain. It was attached to the woman's belt and had no arms and the bottom of its jaw was missing. As she walked, it moved with her. Almost like a well-trained dog.

"Who are you?" He asked, finally. It had taken him a few minutes of getting over the fact that he was still alive and had been saved from some warrior woman with a fucking sword.

The mysterious woman whipped off her cloak and showed of her dark skin and long dreadlocks.

"I'm Michonne."

* * *

**I'm sorry for the lack of Caryl in this chapter, but I had other things that needed to be written about. Don't worry they will be making an appearance in the next chapter. I get super sad when I don't get to write about them. I hoped you all liked the addition of two more characters. I was really excited to start writing them! :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry for the wait, but I just want to tell you all that this is probably one my favorite chapters. I had so much fun writing this and it really didn't take me long to write. It has lots of Caryl, so that's awesome! I hope you all like this update! :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

"You know, on days like this you can almost forget that the world has ended." Carol laid curled into Daryl's side as they gently rocked back and forth on the porch swing.

"Yeah, I suppose."

Carol elbowed him gently in the side and he smirked. What she had said was true, though. It was a beautiful day and without any of the undead around, one could almost forget they were out there hungering for human flesh.

"Went huntin' the other day." He suddenly said.

"Yeah?" From the way she said that one word, he could tell she was confused on why he had randomly brought that up.

"On my way back, I found somethin' I thought ya might like."

This perked her up and she shifted to her knees so she could look him in the eyes. "What?" Her own eyes brimmed with excitement. It had been a boring last few days, which they should be grateful for, but there was only so many hours of doing nothing one could stand.

"Why don't ya go and pack yourself a set of extra clothes and I'll show ya."

She hopped off the bench, with a bright smile. "So, are you saying I should plan on getting wet?"

Daryl nodded, stood up, pulled her close and whispered huskily into her ear. "And if I get my way, you'll be gettin' wet in more ways than one."

Carol's cheeks turned red. She wasn't use to Daryl being the one that talked dirty, but she liked it. With a quick kiss to his lips, she rushed into the house and began to pack what she would need for later.

* * *

The first night together, Shane and Michonne barely spoke to one another. Not for lack of trying on Shane's part. He wanted to know more about the woman who had saved his life, but she was set on only answering some of his questions with the most minimal of words.

"Are you alone?"

_ Yes._

"Do you have anywhere safe to stay?"

_ No._

And so one went the one-word answers until Shane had enough and offered to take first watch while she built a fire. He skirted the walker that she had tied to a nearby tree and headed off into the dark.

He had asked about the chained up walker, but that was one of the questions she had completely ignored. Shane was grateful for the woman, but he didn't know how long he would be able to stay with her if there wasn't going to be any communication.

Waking up the next morning, after he had come back from his watch the night before, he finally realized how empty his stomach was.

"Do you have any food?"

Instead of answering, she only shook her head as she stood up and sheathed her sword. "There's a road not far from here. We can scavenge the cars for food." She walked over to the oddly still and silent walker and held the chain in her hand. "Do you have a weapon?"

He pointed to the empty gun on his belt. "Just this, but I ran out of ammo awhile ago."

With a roll of her eyes, she shrugged off the pack she carried, dug around it and threw a heavy object at him.

It was a knife.

"It's much quieter than that gun of yours, but we'll still need to find some ammo for it. It'll help if we ever get in a pinch."

Shane nodded in understanding and shoved the sheathed knife through his belt. "Maybe I should get myself a sword like yours." He smiled, hoping she'd at least crack a smile at his tone.

She didn't. In fact, she didn't even look at him as she walked by with her little pet. He couldn't help but roll his eyes. This was going to be a long apocalypse if he was stuck with her.

* * *

"I hope you're well-rested." Andrea gently nudged Milton in the side while they walked to get some breakfast.

"Surprisingly after last night, I am." He nudged her back.

Andrea's face grew red. Last night they had made love with each other for the first since the dead started walking. Andrea wanted to believe that it was because they knew they were safe and because Milton knew about the baby, but she knew it was because there was a possibility that something could go wrong on this run and she'd never see the man she loved again.

She hated to think about it, but it was there in her mind. Today, could be the last time she'd see Milton ever.

Tears pricked her eyes and she forcefully grabbed Milton's hand. He stopped in his tracks and looked down at her, concern written all over his face.

"Please tell me you'll be careful on this run, today." She was pleading with him, but she didn't care.

He gently cupped her cheek and wiped away a stray tear with his thumb. "I can't promise that everything will go perfectly, but I can promise you that no matter what happens, as long as I'm still breathing, I will always come back to you."

The words were meant to reassure, but for some reason she got a sinking feeling in her gut. She could tell him he needed to stay and let the others go on the run without him, but she knew that this was something he needed to do.

So, instead of telling him to stay, she gave him a smile back and let him start walking with his hand still in hers. Every second he was gone, she would be praying for his safe return.

* * *

Daryl had informed his brother and Hershel that he and Carol were leaving for a few hours and waited patiently for his woman to make an appearance. It didn't take long until she was bursting through the screen door, a pack slung over her shoulder and slightly out of breath.

"I'm ready!"

He hadn't seen her this excited since the world had ended. But then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that their lives were in danger every second of the day now.

"A'right, follow me." He descended the stairs and Carol wasn't that far behind him.

"Is it far from here?" She was practically bouncing on her toes.

"Maybe around a twenty minute walk." He readjusted the strap on his crossbow. There was no way he was going anywhere without the weapon, now. Especially not when Carol was with him. He needed to protect her at all cost. He wasn't going to allow what happened on the highway to ever happen again. Those few days of thinking her dead had been the worst days of his life.

They had only been walking for ten minutes; the farmhouse was no longer visible as they walked through the woods, when Carol suddenly asked if she could carry his crossbow.

He turned to her. "Why?"

She shrugged.

"What if I need it?" His eyes narrowed as he tried to read her.

"Then I'll hand it to you." She clasped her hands together in a begging motion. "Please, Daryl, I really want to carry it."

"Fine." He lifted the strap over his shoulder and handed it to her. "Ya jus' want to look badass, don't ya?" He smirked.

"You got me." She smiled and settled the weapon against her own back and struck a heroic pose, hands balled into fists and on her hips while she lifted her face to the sky.

"All ya need is a cape and ya could be a superhero."

"I could be Crossbow Woman." She swung the bow around and held it like Daryl had taught her. "I'd strike an arrow of fear in the heart of my enemies!"

Daryl chuckled as he watched her scan the trees, one eye opened. God, he loved this woman so much.

"And you'd be my sidekick," she said and placed the bow back on her back.

He crossed his arms. "Don't wanna be your sidekick."

"Fine then," she pouted. Then a wicked grin crossed his face. He didn't like that grin. "Turn around."

"No," he said automatically. He didn't want to turn his back on her when she had that face. That face only meant trouble.

"Please." Her lower lip stuck out as she began to pout again. "I'm not going to hurt you or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's 'xactly what I'm worried about," he grumbled but turned around anyway. He was actually ready to receive an arrow in the ass, but was surprised when he felt her jump on his back. Her arms wrapped around his neck, while her legs wrapped around his waist.

Instinctly, his arms went under her knees to support her and he staggered a little under the weight, but quickly regained his balance.

"If you don't want to be my sidekick, then you'll have to be my ride." Her tongue flicked at his ear and he had to suppress a shiver.

"I suppose I can be that, but it depends on what kinda rides we're talkin' about here."

"I think you know what kind of rides I'm talking about, Daryl." She gently nipped at his neck. "But if you want a demonstration then I'll gladly show you later."

* * *

It didn't take them much longer for them to finally reach the little pond he had found. Carol still rode on Daryl's back and he didn't mind one bit. It had been awhile since they had acted this way. So carefree.

Once Carol spotted the small pool of water, she slid from his back and gasped. "It's so pretty!"

It really was. Most of the pond was surrounded by tall plants and scattered among the plants were bushels of Cherokee roses. Those had been the first things he had spot when he was coming back from a hunt. He had planned to bring some back to her, but when he found the body of water hidden there; he decided to bring her here instead.

"So, ya like it?" He watched for her reaction.

"I love it!" She dropped the bag she held and moved to unsling the crossbow from her back. "Can we go swimming now?"

"Hold on," he chided and took his precious crossbow so he could gently place it on the ground. It laid a few feet from the bank and would be in reach if he were to need it.

She was shucking off her clothes. Her shirt went first and then her pants. She stood in only a bra and panties.

"Ya know, we brought extra clothes for a reason," he said but moved to unbutton his shirt anyway.

She turned to look at him, a coy gleam in her eye. "Do you want me to put my clothes back on?"

His eyes roamed over the set of pink underwear she only wore. "Hell no."

She smirked. "That's what I thought." She walked up to him and began helping him unzip his jeans. Instead of pulling them down, she reached inside his boxers and wrapped her small hand around him.

He jerked at the unexpected touch.

She leaned close, eyes hooded and dark. "Do you want me to take care of this now or do you want to swim first?"

He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, wedging her hand between them in the process. He slanted his lips over hers in a hungry kiss, but didn't answer her question.

When her hand began to move on him, though, he knew he had to stop her before things ended a little too quickly. Tearing his mouth from hers, reluctantly, he spoke. "Why don't we go swimmin' now?"

She looked disappointed when she took her hand out of his pants. "Fine."

"Later, though. Don't forget I brought ya out here for more than jus' swimmin'."

After quickly shedding the rest of his clothing, both of them jumped into the water at the same time. It was chilly at first but in no time, they got use to it.

Neither one was ashamed that they acted like children when they began to splash each other. Carol had even snuck up behind Daryl at one point and ducked his head under the water. He had come up spluttering and found she was nowhere to be seen.

Her head suddenly popped up in front of him and she gave him a quick kiss before swimming away. He grabbed her ankle before she could get too far and dragged her back to him. She didn't resist and let herself be pulled along until she was standing chest to chest with him. They were standing in the shallow part of the pond.

He kissed her. "Tired of swimmin' yet?"

"Why?"

"I think ya know why." He buried his face in her neck and ground his hips against hers. She'd get the hint then.

"Carry me back to the shore," she said with a smile and wrapped her legs around his waist. He groaned when that spot between her thighs rested right where he wanted it.

With little difficulty, he walked her back to the shore. Carol detached herself from him and urged him to climb out first. He did and flopped on his back. With a smirk, she crawled over him.

With one hand, he reached behind his hand and grabbed the bag. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for.

Opening up the box of condoms, he said. "We can't forget these, now."

"I know." She took the foil package and set it by their bodies. "But first we have to get naked." Reaching behind her, she unclasped her soaking bare and bared her breast to him. He didn't hesitate to take one in his hand and run his thumb over the sensitive skin. She shimmied down his thighs, taking his boxers with her.

The cool water of the pond had done nothing to dampen his need for her.

She stood up and shimmied out of her panties. While she did that, he opened and rolled on the condom. He had never used one before, since Carol had always been on the pill, so it had been a little awkward but he eventually got it.

Carol's naked body covered his, then, and she pressed her lips to his. He responded eagerly and buried a hand in her hair.

A moan escaped his mouth when her tongue slipped past his lips. The taste of her flooded his mouth and he couldn't enough. He needed more. More of _her._

She must have sensed his impatience because she reached between them to once again wrap a hand around him. Her lips never left his.

"You ready?" She asked. Usually he was the one to ask that, but this time she was in control and he liked it.

"Fuck yes."

Then she slowly sank down on him. It was the best feeling in the world to be surrounded completely by Carol. If a walker suddenly came out and bit him then, he'd go out happy knowing that he got to feel like this one more time.

"God, ya feel so good," he gasped as she slowly rose up and down on him. Her only response was to smile and she continued to move slowly.

It was torture.

His hand tightened on her hip. "Carol," he moaned impatiently.

She sped up a little, but it was still too slow. He needed more and it was clear that she planned on torturing him. With a quick move, he flipped them over and she laid beneath him. She pouted at the loss of control, but when he started to thrust into her faster, the pout went away and she wrapped her hands around his neck to bring his head down to slam her lips to his.

A light sheen of sweat coated their bodies and they panted into each other's mouths. He was close, but could tell that she wasn't. He reached between them and suddenly she was arching her back crying out his name. He followed quickly after and soon they both laid there trying to catch his breath.

Daryl wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "We definitely need to come here more often."

"I agree." She yawned and snuggled closer to him.

* * *

"Hey, Bruce Lee, hold up a minute. I wanna talk to ya." Merle had finally caught up the Asian man just as he was about to step into their camp. Rick was still with Lori, who was doing much better now with some antibiotics in her and T-Dog was already in one of tents.

Glenn sighed and rolled his eyes when he faced the redneck. "He's Chinese."

"Well fuck, I don't know any Koreans and I thought he was pretty close."

He sighed again, already accepting the fact that was probably the best he was going to get out of Merle. "So, there's something you wanted to talk to me about."

"Yeah, Maggie told me about what happened on that run."

Glenn's eyes widened. "She did?"

"Yep and I just want to...uh. I wanted to..." He clamped a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Thank ya." Merle never said thank you to anyone, but this man had saved his wife's life and he figured he deserved one.

"Um, well then, you're welcome."

"Now, don't go around tellin' people that I thanked ya, ya hear? I'll deny it if ya do." He towered over the man, hoping to scare him a little.

"Fine, I'll keep it to myself, but there isn't wrong with thanking someone."

"Merle Dixon don't say thank ya to anyone and if ya hadn't saved my wife then ya sure as hell would never get one. So, ya better consider yerself lucky and keep yer mouth shut."

Glenn frantically nodded his head in fear.

Merle took pity on him and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Now, I've seen ya makin' eyes at the little Blondie up at the house and-"

"I haven't been-"

"Shut up, boy, I've seen ya! Anyways, I'm gonna show ya more of my thanks and I'm gonna teach ya the ways of wooin' a Greene woman."

* * *

**Next chapter we'll see what happens on the run with Milton, more with Shane and Michonne and of course, hopefully some more Caryl! :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry for the wait! I really have no excuse. So, how about that episode, tonight? It was pretty intense. Well, to me it was! I wish next Sunday was here already. I loved the little Caryl scenes in this episode, but I need more!**

**Well, I hope you all enjoy! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 22**

Phillip briefed Milton about the upcoming run while they ate breakfast. He had already spoken to the other man that were going on the run the evening before.

"There will be two separate vehicles because they'll be going to two separate places," he explained. "They won't be far from each other, though. One team is in charge of weapons, clothes and other necessities, while the other, the team you're on, will be in charge of gathering any type of food you can find."

Milton took a long sip of his coffee and nodded. "Which group will you be in?"

"I'm not going on this run. I have to stay here and make sure things keep running smoothly. Martinez and Shumpert are in charge. You will have no need to worry. They are good men and very capable."

Andrea snaked a hand underneath the table to grab his and squeezed. He knew that she was going to be worried about him while he was away, but understood that this was something he needed to do for her and for the baby.

She smiled to herself when she remembered when he had punched Ed Peletier in the nose for saying the things he had about her.

Phillip looked down at his watch and then back at them. "I don't mean to hurry you up, Milton, but Martinez wanted to leave around nine and it's almost that time now."

Milton took the last sip of his coffee and stood up. Andrea followed close behind, her own breakfast finished. Phillip stood up as well and motioned for them to follow him. It was a short walk to the barricade separating Woodbury from the rest of the world.

Two trucks sat waiting and running. Martinez was behind the wheel in one and Shumpert the other.

"Hey!" Martinez leaned out the window of his truck. "There isn't room for you inside, so you'll have to ride in the back."

Milton gulped. That didn't sound...safe. Nothing was safe anymore, though. He looked down when he felt something being pressed into his hands. It was a handgun and Phillip was the one giving it to him.

"I hope you won't need this," he said.

Milton looked the gun over. He had never shot one before and suddenly felt nervous to have it in his hands. But if it kept him from being bit, then he'd gladly and willingly keep it handy.

Andrea suddenly threw herself at him and buried her face in his neck. "I love you," she whispered.

Careful to keep the gun facing away from her, he hugged her back. "I love you, too, and I promise that I'll come back to you."

She pulled back and looked up at him. Her eyes were filled with tears. "I'm going to make sure you keep that promise."

* * *

Shane wearily threw open the door to another car. Michonne had been at it for hours and so far, they had only come up with a box of stale crackers and a half full jar of peanut butter. His stomach growled and he silently told it to shut up.

Michonne suddenly appeared at his side. He hadn't heard her approach and jumped when she began to speak.

"Found a cabin not far from here. I checked it out and its all clear." She tugged her walker pet closer and held a granola bar. "Found some of these, too."

Shane took it gratefully and wasted no time in opening it and shoving it in his mouth. "When did you leave the highway?" It unsettled him a little to know she had left him for a period of time and he hadn't even noticed.

What if she decided to leave him permanently? He wasn't ashamed to admit that he needed people. He regretted his decision to leave Rick and the rest of the group. If Michonne left him, then he'd be left alone again and the thought almost caused him to be sick.

"I went while you were searching the last car." She leaned against the car and threw her dreadlocks over her shoulder. "It was just off the road, so I didn't go far."

That didn't reassure him.

"Are we going to stay there the night, then?" He shut the door to the car when he saw that there was nothing worth taking inside.

Michonne rolled her eyes. "No, I just told you so we could walk right past it." She pushed off the car and tugged her walker to follow. Shane had no choice but to follow her as well.

"I don't know about you," she called over her shoulder. "But I'm getting pretty sick of sleeping outside."

* * *

The sun had gradually moved across the sky and now it bore down on the couple who still laid tangled up together at the edge of the pond.

"Should we be getting up and heading back now?" Carol mumbled into Daryl's neck. She had just woken up.

Daryl's arm tightened around her. "Five more minutes," he grumbled.

Carol detached herself from his side with a smile, and then went to her bag to take out the extra pair of clothes she packed. Dressing quickly, she found Daryl still asleep.

She gathered all of his clothes and, with a mischievous grin, dropped them all on his face. He didn't move to take them off, but his chest puffed up with a sigh.

"Fine, I'm gettin' up." He growled and with a huff, he stood up and began to dress. He was reluctant to leave this place, knowing that they may never have time to come here again.

"Everyone's going to wonder where we went," Carol said with a yawn. "What do we say?"

"That we went for a swim and had sex." Daryl nudged her playfully.

"I'm pretty sure they all figured out the last part. Especially Merle."

Daryl rolled his eyes at the mention of his older brother. He almost had an uncanny ability of knowing whenever they had sex. It had gotten really annoying, really fast.

Carol looped her arm through one of his and slung her bag over her shoulder. "So, I never asked. How did that talk with Merle go?"

He shrugged. "Told him he needed to talk to Maggie. He thought she cheated on him with Glenn."

Carol gasped. "What?"

"She didn't. At least, I don't think she did. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him, yet."

"I don't think she did. She loves him too much."

"That's what I told him. Well, we'll see how everythin' went when we get back."

* * *

Milton was thankful when the truck finally came to a stop. His glasses were skewed, his hair a mess and all he wanted to do was throw up. The trip had been a bumpy one and with no seat belt or anything to strap him down, he had been thrown all over the place.

He was hoping that when they headed back to Woodbury, someone would take his place in the bed of the truck.

With shaky legs, he clutched the handgun in his hands and hopped down from the truck. He walked over to Martinez's side and waited for the man to get out and give them orders.

The man climbed out of the driver's side, while the others stepped out as well. They all gathered around the front of the vehicle, each with their own weapon out and ready. Martinez looked over all of them and his brow furrowed.

"Where's the other one? The new guy?" He asked.

Milton was about to speak up and say he was right there, but he heard a door slam and the last person he ever wanted to see sauntered around to join them with a cocky grin aimed only at him.

Ed Peletier.

* * *

**Sorry for the filler chapter, but some serious stuff will be going down in the next chapter. Well...that is if everything goes according to plan!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

**So, my plan was to have this chapter up two days ago, but two days ago was my 21st birthday so you can all guess what I was doing! ;). Anyways, like I said in the last chapter, a lot of stuff goes down in this one. I hope you all find it exciting and you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 23**

Daryl and Carol returned to the farm around suppertime and went their separate ways. Daryl went to find his brother; to make sure everything was all right with Maggie and Carol went up to the house to see if anyone needed help with supper.

Walking up the porch, she was surprised to see Lori sitting on the swing, using her foot to gently rock it. She looked pale and tired, but otherwise fine. The antibiotics had worked.

She smiled when she saw her.

"Hi, Carol."

"Hey, Lori. Feeling better?" Carol moved to sit next to her. She figured she had a few minutes to spare and she did want to know this woman better, especially now that they all had the same goal in mind. To survive.

"Much. I'm glad to finally get some fresh air. Rick has been making me stay in bed and I was getting sick of it."

"He was worried about you."

"I know," she sighed. "I feel guilty for not telling him about the cut earlier, but he already had so much on his plate trying to find us someplace safe and I honestly didn't think things would get that bad."

"Well, now you're somewhere safe and you're healthy. He should be fine, now."

"He is and I'm glad." The swing continued to gently rock and the two women sat in silence for a few more minutes.

Back in high school, Carol had never talked to Lori. Their school was small, but so was her social circle. Daryl had been her only friend for a long time before Andrea and Milton had come along.

Lori hadn't seemed stuck up back then and it was clear that her then boyfriend, Rick, had adored her and still adored her. He hadn't been the only one, though. Shane Walsh had also been infatuated with her. Everyone had noticed. Well, everyone except Rick.

Carol wondered if that was all one of the reasons why the two men parted ways. Lori was Rick's wife now and she wondered if Shane had been having a hard coping with that.

Then again, it had been five years since high school and his feelings could have changed.

Carol stood up. "I'm going to go and see if they need help with supper." She moved to walk away, but Lori stopped her.

"Good luck with that," she laughed. "They practically chased me out of the kitchen when I asked."

Carol chuckled and took her seat back. "Oh, really? Who's in there?"

"Beth and your step mom. From what I can tell, Beth was having a good time talking to her."

"Sharon's a great woman. My dad and I are so lucky to have her in the family."

"Speaking of family." Lori scooted closer to Carol. "Do you think you and Daryl would ever start one? I mean, not right now of course, but if we find some place that is permanently safe, would you?"

Carol felt her face heat up. "We haven't talked about it, but I'd love to have a family with him when it becomes safe enough."

* * *

Daryl found Merle talking to Glenn, who was nodding enthusiastically at whatever the bigger man was saying. Daryl didn't like what he was seeing.

"Merle!" He called once he got closer. Both men looked up at him and watched him approach. "Wanted to talk to ya."

"A'right, bro." He turned to Glenn and slapped him on the back. "Ya do what your ol' pal Merle says and you'll be sure to get the lady."

"Okay, I'll try." Glenn looked at both brothers. "Well, I'll see you both later." Then, he took off jogging towards the house.

Daryl narrowed his eyes. "What the hell was that?"

"What?" Merle's eyes widened. "I was jus' helping the boy get a woman. Nothin' wrong with that, is there?"

"Beth?"

"Course! She's the only available one here." He took a seat in one of the lawn chairs that surrounded the ashes of an old fire. Daryl sat across from him.

"So, I take it you and Maggie are fine, then."

"Yep, we talked it out. Turns out she didn't cheat on me." Merle placed his hands behind his head and used his foot to lean his chair slightly back.

"Told ya."

Merle rolled his eyes. "Ya always right, ain't ya?"

Daryl smirked. "So, how is Maggie goin' to react once she finds out ya jus' sicced Glenn on her younger sister's tail?"

"She ain't gonna find out." He snorted. "And ya better not say shit, either."

"I won't." He stood up then and stretched. He was glad that his talk with Merle had been short. His older brother was fine and there was no need to get all sappy with each other. "Well, I better go. I reckon it's almost time for supper and I'm starvin'."

Merle followed suit and stood up. "You and Carol were gone all day, I can see why you're starvin', baby brother." With a playful nudge, he walked past him.

Daryl groaned. Of course, his older brother would know what he and Carol had been up to.

* * *

Milton slammed his back against the brick wall of the store. They had just finished loading up the truck with all the supplies they had managed to find, when a dozen or more walkers had appeared around the side of the building. It was too risky to use their guns, in case there were more around. Martinez and two other men ran for the truck. One man had been bitten.

Milton had been forced to hide on the other side of the store. He clutched the gun in his hand and peeked around the corner. He was nearly bowled over by Ed.

"Fuck!" Ed cursed, his breath coming out in short, fast gasps and his rifle clutched close to his chest. "They're everywhere!"

"There's more?" Milton asked his voice shaky with fear.

"Yeah, they must have heard the truck start. There's about thirty of them out there now."

"What do we do now?" How was he supposed to get back to Andrea? How was he even supposed to get out of this _alive?_

"Martinez said he'd drive around. Pick us up at the back of the store, but he wants to lead some of them away first."

Milton nodded. It sounded like a good plan and he followed behind Ed. It was still a shock that he was here, out of all places. He hadn't seen the man in five years and he didn't seem to have a grudge against him, but he couldn't help but still feel uneasy around him.

"Come on, this way!" Ed called back to him; gun out in front of his body in case anything jumped out on them. Milton did the same with his; even though he didn't know what good, he would be if he actually had to use it.

The area behind the store was empty and thankfully free of walkers. About twenty feet from the back of the store, there was a patch of dense woods. A large dumpster was the only thing there and they moved to stand behind it in case anything had decided to follow them.

Nothing had.

It was awkward standing there with Ed, but the man had helped save his life. Sort of. Who knew what would have happened if he had continued to stand there? A walker could have snuck up behind him and that could have been the end.

No more seeing Andrea and he would have never seen their baby.

"Hey!" Ed yelled, yanking him out of his mind. "Over here!" It took Milton a second to realize that Ed wasn't by him anymore and his voice was coming from a ways away.

Looking around, he saw that Ed was standing in the tree line and looking at him with annoyance.

"Do you want to get your ass killed?" He hissed when the bespectacled man ran closer. "You need to get out of your fucking head!"

"I thought we were waiting for Martinez back there?" He asked.

"We are, but the trees give us a better cover." He continued to walk deeper into the woods and Ed followed him.

"We can't go too far, right? We won't be able to see them if we do." Milton was getting a little worried that they would lose sight of the store and Martinez would return back to Woodbury without them.

Ed suddenly turned around and pointed the shotgun at his face. "Do you ever shut up?"

Milton froze in his tracks.

"Give me your gun." Ed demanded and with a shaking hand, Milton did just that. "Now, walk in front of me." He did as he was told and Ed prodded his back with the barrel of the shotgun. "You're coming with me. I have a few questions to ask you."

* * *

It was dark when Martinez's truck returned to Woodbury and Andrea was one of the first people there to greet it. Shumpert had returned with his men and supplies hours ago and that had only heightened her fear.

She just needed to see Milton, now, to make sure everything was good and fine.

However, when only three men stepped out of the truck, her heart sank and tears pricked her eyes.

"No," she gasped in anguish.

Martinez was instantly there along with Phillip. "He's not dead," the Hispanic man was saying. "At least, we don't think so. We didn't see him as one of the biters and another man of ours is missing as well. Ed. We think they might have escaped somewhere and are waiting things out."

Andrea's head shot up. "Ed? Ed who?"

It was Phillip's turn to speak. "Ed Peletier. He was one of the new people to join us here."

If Phillip hadn't wrapped an arm around her waist just in time, she would have sank to the ground in despair. Milton was somewhere out there with Ed Peletier, a man she knew probably still hated them for what happened in high school.

If he wasn't found soon, then they walkers weren't the only things he had to worry about.

* * *

A spring dug in his back, the pillow was lumpy and the blanket was no more than a sheet, but it was the most comfortable bed he had ever slept on. He couldn't even remember the last time he had slept on anything so soft and so warm and so...

Suddenly the sheets were pulled off him and immediately he jerked into a sitting position.

"What the hel-?" The protest died on his lips when he saw the look on Michonne's face. She pressed a finger to lips and motioned to the only window in the small room.

"We got company," she whispered and ducked beneath the windowpane.

Shane moved to get a better look, but she violently pulled him down to a kneeling position. His hand went straight to the gun on his hip. It didn't take him long to remember that it was empty and he cursed quietly.

The only weapon they had was Michonne's sword and that could only be used for close combat. It wouldn't do them much good if the people out there were armed and ready to kill.

"How many are there?" He asked.

"Three. All of them heavily armed, too."

"We can't stay here, then." His eyes searched for a way out and they zeroed in on the backdoor. The cabin was partially hidden by trees and if they managed to sneak out undetected, then the dense woods would quickly conceal them.

Michonne saw where he was looking and nodded. Together they quietly made their way to the door, but Shane stopped her before they could open it.

"What about your...friend?" He tilted his head to the window where they could see the top of the walker's head.

She shrugged. "We leave him. Unless, you want to risk your ass to get him."

"Hell no," he snorted. "He creeped me out, anyway."

Opening the door as silently as possible, she threw over her shoulder. "Just be glad you didn't know him when he was alive."

He didn't have time to ponder what she had said, because she was already taking off into the woods.

* * *

They hadn't gone far when they had heard a gunshot. The noise caused them to duck and Shane nearly face planted into the ground.

"They weren't shooting at us." Michonne was at his side immediately. "Bet they found my _friend_ on the porch."

He stood up and brushed his pants off. "Mighty stupid of them to be using their guns on such an easy kill."

Michonne didn't say a word and moved to keep walking.

"Wait!" Shane called. "We should stick around. See what they are up too."

She turned around and gave him an 'are you fucking stupid? face', then moved to walk away again.

"We'll stay hidden! If we see what they are up, too, then we can know for sure if we should avoid them in the future."

She placed her hands on her hips. "How about we just avoid them anyway? Good or not, those guns don't look nice."

"Fine, stay here. I'll see what's going on and come back."

"All right, but if you're gone more than an hour then I'm out of here."

Shane nodded and then started to walk in the direction they had just come from. In his mind, he knew that this wasn't the smartest thing to do, he didn't even have a weapon, but maybe this group was a good one. Maybe they'd let in other people and it wouldn't be just him and the warrior woman anymore.

Maybe they had even seen Rick and Lori out there somewhere.

* * *

Shane crouched low behind a large bush. He was far as he dared to get and was lucky that they had left the back door open. The men's voice drifted out to him and he could almost hear them clearly.

"Anything?" One asked.

"Nope," another called from deeper inside the cabin. "But I think someone was just here. The bed's still warm and the back door is opened."

Shane ducked down lower when he heard the voice get closer. Once again, he wished that he had some ammo left in his gun, now he had nothing to use as a security blanket. If one of those men found him, he was most likely good as dead.

"Hey, Dave, do you think it was a woman that was here?"

"Shut up, Jay. That's all you ever talk about, anymore."

"Hey, it ain't my fault. I haven't gotten laid in months and the last woman we found, went to Art. My turns next."

"Well, obviously there isn't anything here, Tony." A different voice spoke up. He sounded like he might be the leader. "Let's head back to camp. Randall said there's a farmhouse a little ways from here. Said he knew the family that lived there. An old man and his two daughters."

Through the gaps in the bush, he could make out three men as they walked out of the back door. One was overweight and middle-aged, another looked to be around the same age as the other and had dark hair and the other man looked to be no older than twenty.

"Well, what are we waiting for," the youngest of the three spoke up. "Let's head back, get a group together and check this place out."

"You just want to get yourself a girl."

Shane figured the youngest one was Jay and he didn't like the look of him. His eyes were shifty and it was clear he was only thinking about one thing.

These men were clearly dangerous and there were even more of them back at a camp. From what he had found it out, it sounded like they looted camps and took the women. Men like that needed to be killed and if he had some bullets, he might have been tempted to put one in each of their heads.

The group walked back around the cabin and after several minutes, he heard a car engine start and the sound of gravel as it drove away.

"Told you they were dangerous." Shane jumped at the voice.

"Jesus!" He cried. "Could you at least make _some_ noise while you're sneaking up behind me?"

She smirked. "Then what's the point of sneaking?"

He rolled his eyes and stood up. "Did you hear what they said?"

"Some."

"We have to head to that farmhouse."

"Uh-uh," she quickly disagreed. "That's too risky. There's going to more than three men heading there and there is no way in hell we could take them all on. We couldn't even take these three on."

"Look, I've lived here all my life and I know exactly who lives on that farm. We need to warn them before anything bad happens."

Michonne still didn't look convinced.

"I went to school with one of the daughters. We need to get them, before those bastards do." If she didn't agree to go with him, then he would just have to go on his own.

"Fine," she finally said after a few minutes. "But if I get killed on this suicide mission...I'm haunting your ass."

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Here's the next chapter! :) I just wanted to apologize for the lack of Caryl in the last chapter, but there were other people I had to write about to keep this story moving forward. There's a bit of Caryl in this one and there will be much more in the chapters to come. I promise!**

**Now, I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

"Fuck!" Shane shouted and slammed the door shut on another useless vehicle. They had yet to find one on the highway that had any fuel left in it. It was a car graveyard. "We aren't going to make it in time, if we don't find a damn ride!" He began to pace angrily and ran a hand through his hair.

Michonne leaned on the car he had just climbed out of and crossed her arms. "Maybe we shouldn't even head back there, then. What use will we be if we come _after _that other group gets there?"

Shane stopped and glared at the woman. "I told you that we have to do this. We have to warn those people."

"This is coming from a guy who was trying to survive on his own. Why are you all of a sudden giving a shit?"

It was true; he had been trying to survive on his own. He had thought it had been a good idea at first. If Rick didn't want to go to Fort Benning with him, then that was fine. He'd make it on his own.

Then he had almost been killed. If it hadn't been for the woman in front of him, he would have become walker food. In that moment, as he stared up at the hooded figure before him, he knew that this was not the time to try to take the world on his own.

"Christ, Michonne, I know those people! I can't have them get killed while I do nothing." He settled his hands on his hips. "And last time I checked, you weren't exactly running around with a group of your own. It was just you and your walker friend!"

Her face contorted in anger. "Yes, I was on my own, but you don't see me wanting to run off on a suicide mission!"

Shane knew that things could go south very quick with her. He wouldn't doubt she'd leave his ass if he didn't calm down. So, he took a deep breath. "Look, Michonne," he started. "We need people. We can't go on like this much longer. The only weapon we have is that sword of yours and that doesn't do much good if we're up against men with guns. If we help these people, warn them before shit hits the fan, then maybe they'll let us join their group." He took a few steps forward until he stood directly in front of her. She didn't meet his eyes as he placed a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't flinch or move away. "I know it's hard to admit, but we need people if we want to survive."

It was silent between them for a few minutes, before Michonne stepped back from his touch and sighed. "Why don't we check that semi we passed awhile ago?"

Shane's eyes widened. "You want to try driving a semi?"

She shrugged. "If it has gas and will get us to that farm of yours, then why the hell not?"

He looked over her shoulder and down the highway to where the abandoned semi was. He hadn't even given it a second thought when they had walked past it. "All right," he decided. "Let's check it out."

* * *

Milton's feet hurt and he was sure that there was going to be a bruise on his back from where Ed kept prodding him in the back with his gun. It felt like they had been walking for hours and Ed had yet to reveal the reason why he had kidnapped him.

"Are we going to stop anytime soon?" He asked and winced when the gun barrel dug more into his back.

"I said shut the hell up!" Ed growled. "We'll stop when I fucking say we stop."

Milton kept his mouth shut and kept walking. He figured that this had to be more than just a grudge the man behind him had since high school. There had to be another reason for nabbing him. If not, then this man was probably insane.

A cabin suddenly came into view and Ed nudged him in the direction of it. It was going to be getting dark in a few hours and Milton was glad that they would be spending the night in some type of shelter. The last thing he wanted to do was wonder around at night with the walkers.

The cabin seemed safe. There were no walkers hanging around the outside and when Ed opened the door, they found none on the inside as well.

Ed shoved him in and closed the door behind them.

"Take a seat." He ordered and never took the gun off him.

Milton found a seat at a small wooden table in what use to be the kitchen. Ed took the seat across from him.

"So, are you going to tell me why you brought me here?" He asked.

"There's lots of reason." Ed smirked. "But the main reason is because I wanted to ask you some questions."

"And you couldn't do that while we were in Woodbury?"

Ed shot to his feet and knocked his chair over. "Listen here, you fucking nerd, I'd stop trying to be a smart ass and fucking cooperate."

It was clear that Ed was still stuck back in the high school days if he was still referring to him as a nerd.

"Fine," he said. "I'll cooperate." _Even if I don't know what the hell I have to cooperate for..._

"Good." Ed took his seat and scooted closer to the table. "So, have you and the Dixons remained in touch these past couple years."

"Yes." He answered. He figured there was nothing wrong with telling the truth, but he wanted to know why Ed wanted to know that.

"Did you guys hang out a lot?"

"Not really," he said and got more confused. "Andrea and I lived in Atlanta and they still lived in town. But we did keep in touch. We'd call each other every couple of weeks."

"Do you know where they are now?"

"No. We were going to visit them before the virus started, but obviously didn't work out very well." Milton knew that even if he did know where Daryl and Merle were, he would never tell this man. He clearly had something bad in mind for them.

Ed leaned in closer to him. "I think you're fucking lying."

"How am I lying? I don't know where they are. For all I know, they could be...dead." It was hard to admit that out loud.

"Well, then, it looks like me and you are going to spending a lot of time together because you are going to show me every fucking place they _could_ be."

"I told you, I don't-"

"Shut up!" He slammed his fist on the table. "You will do this or I will kill you, go back to Woodbury and have a Mr. Buck Dixon have his way with your girlfriend."

Milton felt the blood drain from his face. "No," he whispered. If he had known that Buck Dixon was in Woodbury as well, then he wouldn't have left. He would have stayed with Andrea to make sure nothing good happen to her.

Buck Dixon was bad news.

Ed smirked when he realized that he had been successful in threatening him. "Now, we'll rest up here for the night and in the morning you'll be leading me to stop number one."

* * *

Shane hooted with joy when the semi roared to life and showed that it had half a tank of gas. He looked over at Michonne and smiled. Her gaze was stuck looking out of the windshield, not masking the fact she as ignoring him, and didn't see it.

"Now, how the fuck do you drive this thing?"

* * *

Andrea barricaded herself in the room she had shared with Milton. After revealing that Ed Peletier had taken him, Phillip had escorted her back there and left her with her thoughts.

What was she to do now? She couldn't go out there on her own and find him. She'd probably get herself and the baby killed. But she couldn't just sit idly by. She had to do _something._

A knock sounded on the door and she made her way over to open it. Phillip stood there with a sympathetic look on his face when he saw her disheveled appearance.

"I would ask how you were holding up, but it's pretty obvious."

She didn't say anything.

"Martinez, myself and a couple other men will be going out in the morning to look for him, Andrea. Shumpert will be left in charge of Woodbury while I'm gone and if you have any problems you can go to him."

She nodded and sniffled. The thought of going the night without Milton by her side was going to cause her to cry again.

"Don't worry, Andrea," he placed a hand on her shoulder and bent to look her in the face. "We'll find him."

She noticed that he hadn't said 'I promise' and she understood. How could you guarantee the safe return of anyone these days? Especially when there were things that wanted to eat you and a man who wanted you dead.

* * *

Carol needed something to do. She felt bad that Sharon and Beth had made supper for everyone while she sat on the porch and chatted away with Lori. So, after supper she decided that she would so some laundry.

Hershel had told her that the washer and dryer were set up in the basement, but since they wanted to preserve the generators they opted not to use them. However, they did have an old washboard down there and if she didn't mind using it, then she was welcome to it.

She went to the camp first and asked if anyone had any laundry to do. Lori had told her that she would do hers and Rick's in the morning, so that she would have something to do. T-Dog and Glenn had happily handed over some of their clothes. It wasn't a large pile, because they didn't have much, but there was still enough to keep her busy.

The next stop was Merle and Maggie's room. The door had been shut and she hadn't seen the couple since supper, so she decided not to knock on the door. She'd get their's later.

The last stop was she and Daryl's room and she knew that they had a little pile of dirty clothes in the corner. Daryl had been discussing with Rick and Glenn about another run for supplies, so she wasn't surprised to find their room empty.

She placed the pile of clothes in her arms on the bed and moved to the corner so she could better collect them. In the pile was a couple of her and Daryl's shirts and some pants. Picking up a pair of Daryl's jeans, she was surprised when something fell out of the pocket and clunked loudly to the ground.

Dropping the pants, she looked at the object. It was a small black box.

She picked it up and opened it. Gasping at the contents of the box, she almost didn't hear the sound of boots approach behind her.

"What do ya got there?" It was Daryl.

Taking a deep breath, she stood up and showed him what was in her hand. His face paled when he saw what it was.

"Daryl," she started and looked him straight in the eye. "What is this?"

* * *

**So, what do you all think Carol found? ;). It's pretty easy to figure out lol**

**Thanks for reading!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Well, here's the next chapter! I wanna say sorry for the little wait, I know you all were looking forward to this chapter. Just so you all know, there's a lot of things that go on in here and I apologize if it all seems rushed. Action scenes are not my forte lol.**

**I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 25**

Daryl shifted nervously as he stared at the box in Carol's hand. He had thought he had kept it safely hidden in one of the drawers, but found that obviously hadn't been the case.

"Uh, it's a ring."

Instead of being annoyed with his obvious answer, Carol smiled gently. "I know what it is, Daryl, but...is it what I think it is, though?"

All he wanted to do was ask her what he thought it was just to prolong the inevitable. This wasn't how he wanted her to find out. He had wanted it to be more romantic than her just finding it in a pair of his dirty jeans.

"Daryl..." She pressed.

"Yeah," he finally sighed. "It is what ya think."

She frowned at the look on his face. "What's wrong? Did you change your mind about asking me? Is that why it was in your pants? Do you not want-"

"No," he cried and waved his hands in front of him. "It's jus' that I didn't want ya to find out this way. I was hopin' for somethin' more romantic." The thumb of his right hand went to his mouth so he could gnaw on the skin there.

"It's the apocalypse, Daryl. Things aren't going to get that romantic anymore."

"Jus' didn't want ya to find out. I at least wanted to ask ya proper like."

"Well, you still can." She handed him the box.

Daryl looked down at the ring in his hand and he felt his palms start to sweat. This was it. He was going to ask her. He was going to ask Carol to be his wife.

However, before he could get down on one knee and ask the question, the sounds of approaching vehicles and gunfire interrupted him.

* * *

Merle and Maggie walked out of their room slightly out of breath and sweaty. They had wanted to get some fresh air and decided to sit on the porch swing. The sun was still up and barely peeking over the trees. From where they sat, they had a clear view of the campsite.

"I think Glenn may have a thing for my sister," Maggie said casually.

"Now, why would ya say that?" Merle asked and tried to hide his grin.

"Because he asked my daddy if Beth could sit by the fire with him after supper and there she is. There isn't even an inch of space between them." She shifted in her seat and looked up at him. "You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?"

"Me?" He asked, surprised. "'Course not. That boy is old 'nough to make his own decisions and I reckon he wanted Beth to sit with him."

Maggie narrowed her eyes at him and pitched his side. "You're lying. I always know when you lie, Merle Dixon."

"Oh, come on, Maggie. That Asian boy needs a little lovin' and so does your sister."

Maggie stood up and positioned herself in front of her husband with her hands on her hips. "What kind of 'lovin' ' are we talking about here?"

"Uh, the totally innocent kind. The kind that doesn't involve sex, of course." He spoke quickly, hoping that his words would calm her. The last thing he wanted to deal with was an angry Maggie.

She smirked and sat back down next to him. "That's what I thought."

The peaceful summer night was ruined when two black SUVS suddenly drove the yard and headed straight for the camp. Several men poured out of the vehicles. Merle and Maggie were instantly on their feet.

"Shit!" Merle cursed. "I gotta get my gun!" He raced inside, while Maggie watched in horror as one man grabbed her sister and began dragging her to one of the vehicles. She began to scream and Glenn moved to help her, but three men surrounded him with their guns. One man pointed his gun in the air and fired, hoping that it would strike fear in the other man in the campsite.

Maggie remained frozen. What was going on? At that moment, one of the men, one that looked vaguely familiar, looked right at her.

"Hey, there's one!" He shouted and instantly two other men joined his side and began to run up to the farmhouse.

She unglued her feet and ran inside to get her own weapon.

* * *

"That got Beth!" Carol gasped as she watched what was happening down below. "And Lori!"

Daryl cursed and raced to the door where his crossbow laid. "Looks like they're here for the woman. What are they doin' to Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and your dad?"

Carol's scanned the camp and when she spotted them, she gasped again. "They're grouping them together and they have their guns on them."

Daryl cursed again. "Can ya see how many men with guns there are?"

She took a quick head count. "I only see eight. One has Beth and one has Lori. Four have the men and two are heading this way!"

"Fuck!" He opened the door and kept his crossbow in front of him. "Stay here," he ordered and ran out into the hallway without another word.

Stay here while he risked his life? There was no way in hell she was going to do that! So, she raced after him and was surprised to see him standing at the top of the stairs. He turned to her, his face angry.

"Get your ass back in that room, Carol! I ain't gonna tell ya again!"

"I can help!" She argued feebly.

"No, ya can't. Now, get your ass back in there before I drag it there."

"But, Daryl-"

"Now!"

Tears filled her eyes and she finally did what he said. She slammed the door behind her, locked it and slid angrily to the floor. He had no right to order her around like that.

A familiar scream pierced the air and sent her racing to the window. She watched in horror as her step-mom was dragged to one of the SUVs. She had managed to wrestle free, but the man was on her in seconds and slapped her across the face.

Carol knew, after watching that, she couldn't sit in here and do nothing. Merle, Daryl and Maggie burst out of the house, firing. The two men that had been running to the porch didn't have time to react and they were quickly gunned down.

Hershel stood on the porch with his shotgun and fired at some of the men surrounding Rick and the rest of the group.

Everyone was out there fighting, while she was in there. The sight of Beth and Maggie's father joining in the fight made the decision for her. She raced to her side of the bed, grabbed the gun that was in the drawer there and ran outside to join the fight.

* * *

It was like watching something out of an action movie.

Daryl and Merle took cover on the side of the house, but the sound of another approaching vehicle gained their attention and it sounded like a _huge_ vehicle.

"Is that a fuckin' semi?" Merle asked in astonishment as a semi truck came out of nowhere and crashed into one of the SUVs. Thankfully, it hadn't hit the one with Lori, Beth and Sharon.

It had also caused the men by Rick to become distracted and the Dixon brothers used that to take down one man each.

A woman hopped out of the passenger's side with a sword and immediately made her way to the other SUV. The men had been so shocked by the turn of events that they didn't even see as she stabbed each of them through the chest. Opening the door to the SUV, she ushered the three women out and urged them to make a run for the house.

Maggie ran out, covered them with her gun, and led them to the other side of the house where there was a storm cellar they could all hide.

Only two men remained. Merle watched in amusement as the two men looked at one other, dropped their weapons and ran. Hershel took out one, while he took out the other. Daryl stepped up beside him and smirked. It seemed that it had ended almost as quick as the ambush had started. It was miracle that no one had been hurt...or killed, though.

"Let's go see how they're doin'." Daryl said as he pointed to the four men still in the camp.

* * *

Carol had decided to exit the house on the opposite of where the fight was taking place, that way no one could see her and she'd be able to sneak up on them and take them out. Hopefully.

But then the gunfire stopped and she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. Had Daryl and the others taken out all the men or had the men...killed Daryl and the others?

She had been surprised when a semi came barreling through the yard, but didn't stop to watch where it was going. She was on a mission and she couldn't afford to get distracted. Her friends were out there fighting for their lives and she needed to help them.

She was about to turn the corner, when a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. She let out a scream before the man behind her could press a hand to her mouth.

"Shut up, you little bitch," the man hissed. "You're mine now."

* * *

The rest of the group regrouped in front of the house in the waning daylight. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon and it cast the group members in almost darkness.

Maggie, followed by Beth, Lori and Sharon joined Hershel, Daryl, Merle, Glenn, T-Dog, Marc and Rick. Lori and Sharon went straight to their husbands, who engulfed them in their arms, and Beth ran straight to Glenn, to much eyebrow raising from Hershel.

The black woman with the sword, whose name they found out was Michonne stayed behind the group and kept glancing back at the semi. When one of the doors opened, she rolled her eyes. They all watched as Shane approached a smile on his face.

"Thank God, you are all right," he said and immediately went to his best friend. "I was hoping to get here sooner, to warn ya'll."

"How come you weren't out fighting?" T-Dog asked.

"I would have, but my guns out of ammo. I wouldn't have been much help, so that's why I crashed the truck into one of their vehicles, hoping that I could at least distract some of them."

"Thank you for that, son." Hershel spoke up. "It sure helped."

Merle looked around at the group. "Yo, Daryl, where's Carol?"

"She's inside. It wasn't safe out here for her." He answered.

Merle nodded and didn't say anything else. He couldn't imagine that she had been okay with that.

A scream had them all frozen. Daryl was the first to snap out of it.

"Carol!"

* * *

Carol struggled with the man. She elbowed, kicked and bit to try to gain her freedom, but for the man's small build he was sure strong.

"Stop struggling, baby," he whispered in her ear. "Once I find us a safe place, I'll show you that I can take _real _good care of you."

She felt sick to her stomach as he continued to drag her to the woods. She hoped that someone had heard her, but her heart sank when no one came running from the house.

Did that mean they were all dead?

Suddenly the man behind her let her go and let out a scream of his own. Carol watched in horror as a walker took a bite out of the man's neck. They hadn't even heard it approach them. Her eyes widened when she saw that it wasn't the only one. There were hundreds heading straight for the farmhouse.

She turned and ran back to the farmhouse. She was surprised when she ran straight into Daryl. He gripped her forearms and looked her over frantically.

"Are ya all right? Ya didn't get hurt did ya? Bit?"

She shook her head at all the questions and then turned her body to point at the walkers that were slowly making their way to the farm.

"Shit!" He shouted. "A herd that size will tear down the house. We gotta get outta here."

The rest of the group had joined them and at the sight of the walkers coming their way, then ran back in the other direction.

"Grab what you can from the camp and pile in the SUV," Rick ordered.

"You all can use my truck," Hershel said slightly out of breath. "Throw things in there if need be, but we have to hurry."

"Eight people can fit in the SUV and six in the truck," T-Dog directed and then took off to help pack some things.

"Beth, Sharon and Lori, come with me to the storm cellar," Maggie cried. "We can grab some of the canned stuff down there." The three women followed her.

"Shane, come with me and Glenn to pack some of the tents. Merle and Daryl can you keep on eye out and shot any of them that get near us?" Rick asked. The role of leader fit him well.

Carol looked frantically around at everyone running around gathering things. What could she do?

"Stay close!" Daryl ordered her and then turned back to face the walkers that were approaching.

She spotted Michonne off to the side and motioned for her to come over. "Can you help me get some stuff from the house? Like clothes."

Michonne looked over at Daryl. "Pretty sure your man over there told you to stay close."

"He isn't my master; I need to do something to help. So, will you?"

The woman nodded and followed behind her. She went straight to Maggie and Merle's room, found a bag and started throwing clothes in. Michonne went to Beth and Hershel's room. Carol then went to her and Daryl's room and stated to collect the dirty clothes on the floor. Before she left the room, she stopped when she spotted the black box lying on the ground where Daryl had dropped it. She quickly picked it up and stuffed it into her pocket.

Gunfire sounded and she knew the walkers were getting close. "Michonne, hurry!"

The sound of vehicles starting stopped her in her tracks. _No!_

Michonne appeared in front of her, a bag slung over her shoulder and eyes wide. "They're leaving us!" The two women rushed to the front of the house and watched in horror as the two vehicles drove away.

* * *

Merle had to practically drag his brother to one of the vehicles, Hershel's truck. It had grown dark, the walkers were now surrounding the house and Daryl had tried to run off to find Carol.

"Gotta find Carol," he tried to break free of Merle's grasp. There was no way he was going to leave her behind in a herd again.

"I think I saw her get into the SUV with Lori," Beth piped up.

"You sure?" He narrowed his eyes at the girl.

She nodded.

"The girl said Carol was safe; now get your ass in here before you become walker chow." Merle finally managed to drag him into the back of the truck where they squashed in with Maggie. Hershel drove with Beth and Glenn sitting next to him on the bench seat. Several walkers clawed at the wondows of the truck, but Hershel stepped on the gas and broke free.

"So, that means Rick, Lori, Shane, T-Dog, Michonne, Marc, Sharon and Carol are in the SUV," Glenn listed. "That has to be tight fit."

"It's a fuckin' tight fit in here," Merle said from between Daryl and Maggie. "And I'm pretty sure I got one of your arrows in my ass, bro."

* * *

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Michonne asked as she chopped the head off a walker that had gotten too close. More filled the space and she had to keep swing her sword. They had dropped the bags of clothes and made a run for it.

"I don't know," Carol cried. "We can't go on foot; these things will be on us in seconds." Tears filled her eyes, but she had still managed to shoot a nearby walker in the head.

They were going die.

"Wait," she suddenly spotted the now abandoned semi. "We can take that, can't we?"

Michonne nodded and both women took off for it.

* * *

The group stopped several miles from the farm and got out to regroup. Daryl looked over each member frantically.

There was no Carol.

He whirled on Beth, who cowered at his anger. "Ya told me she got in the SUV!" He roared.

Tears streamed down her face. "I'm sorry! I thought she did."

Merle yanked him back. "Easy, baby brother."

"Fuck that!" Daryl growled. "We left Carol _again._" He angrily swiped at the tears that were forming in his eyes. He had told her to stay close to him and what had she done the moment his back was turned? She ran off and now, she wasn't here. Wasn't safe. Wasn't with him and was probably dead.

He couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep wondering if she was alive or not. He had thought her dead once and that had almost destroyed him. What was he going to do now? Especially if she really was dead?

* * *

It didn't take Michonne and Carol long to navigate the large truck onto the highway and find where the rest of the group had stopped. Michonne put the semi in park, just as Carol spotted Daryl off by himself.

Thank God, he was all right.

She hopped out of the truck to run straight to him and wrap her arms around his waist. He returned the embrace somewhat stiffly and she looked up to see his eyes were full of steel. They were red rimmed, like he had been crying, but they were hard as he looked down at her.

"Told ya to stay put." He growled and stepped back from her. Her arms fell limply to her sides.

She knew he would be angry, had expected it really. "I'm sorry; I had to do something to help."

"I can't keep doin' this, Carol." He finally sighed and his whole body slumped in what looked like defeat. "I thought ya were dead once already and here I was thinkin' ya was dead _again._"

"Daryl, I'm so-"

"I can't keep doin' this," he repeated. "I can't keep thinkin' your dead and I can't stop thinkin' about what would happen if ya were."

"Then don't."

"It ain't that easy!" He nearly shouted. "I'm losin' my sanity here and that's goin' to either get you or me killed. I can't do this."

Tears filled her eyes. "What are you saying?" _Please, don't be what I think you're saying, Daryl. Please._

"This." He gestured between them. "I love ya, but I need to focus more on ways of keepin' ya safe and not on more ways of beddin' ya."

"You can still keep me safe and stay with me, Daryl." She begged.

He shook his head. "I think it'll be better for both of us if we take a break." He avoided her eyes.

"Daryl-"

"I gotta go talk to Merle." And he left her there, alone.

Carol sobbed into her hands.

* * *

**I know I ended up on a sad note and I'm sorry. It may seem like the decision to take a break from Carol came out of no where, but lots of things were going through his head from the time he found out Carol wasn't there to the moment she finally showed up. I hoped that made sense! :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**So, how about that episode? It was pretty intense. I liked it and my love for Carol is still strong and she will forever remain one of my favorite characters. I just hope the writers don't do anything stupid to her character. I'll be pissed! Anyways... I want to apologize for the shortness of this chapter and I hope you all enjoy reading it!**

* * *

**Chapter 26**

Milton's gaze was focused out of the passenger window and on the trees and houses that they passed by. They had been in the car; one they had found on a deserted road, for an hour and the scenery was starting to look very familiar.

This was home. Or it had been before he had packed up and moved to Atlanta with Andrea. They drove past their old school and for a moment he thought Ed was going to stop the car but when saw the walkers milling around the grounds, he sped up instead.

Milton had asked before they had found the car where they were heading, but Ed had ignored him and practically shoved him into the passenger's seat. The night before, Ed had found some rope and had tied Milton's hands tightly in front of him. There was no way he was going to escape anytime soon.

Now, he had an idea of their destination and when they pulled into a driveway, one bare of any vehicles, his suspicions were confirmed.

They now sat parked in front of Carol and Daryl's old house. He wanted to turn the man in the driver's seat and ask 'Really?', but he kept his mouth shut. It was clear that there wasn't anyone there.

"Fuck!" Ed cursed and climbed out of the car, with one hand wrapped around the shotgun. Milton managed to open the passenger's door with his bond hands and followed him. It wasn't that he wanted to follow him around, but he wanted to make sure that his friend's weren't there. And if they were... Well, he'd tell Ed to end them, so that their animated bodies could be put to rest.

Arriving at the door, Ed pushed Milton in front of him. "You go in first." He said.

"Why?"

"Daryl is the kind of guy who'll shoot first, ask questions later and I'd rather not get shot." He said it like it was the most obvious thing. "And if they're not alive in there, well then, I'll figure that out when one of them takes a bite out of you."

Milton gulped. "And what if the house is completely empty?"

The other man rolled his eyes. "Then we'll go to Merle's house and see if he's there. I ain't going to stop until I find them!"

Milton sighed as Ed opened the front door. He was traveling with an insane man.

* * *

The house had been empty and after checking Merle's house, they found it to be empty as well. Ed threw a fit, throwing his gun to the ground and kicked the tires to their car. Milton watched from a distance, relieved that they hadn't found anything. Ed planned to kill his friends and that was something he did not want.

Suddenly, Ed stopped his fit and stood up straight. Milton got an uneasy feeling when he saw the other man smile.

"That's it!" He exclaimed. "That woman of Merle's, Maggie Greene. She has family in the country. They have to be there." He looked over at Milton. "Get your ass in the car!"

The car ran out of gas halfway to the farmhouse and they joined the numerous other gasless vehicles. It was growing dark and Ed didn't want to chance walking around at night. So, he opted to stay in the car. He climbed in the back and laid down, but before he drifted to sleep he told Milton that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot him if he heard him try to escape.

Milton just rolled his eyes and resigned himself to the passenger's seat. This was going to be a long few days and for some reason he didn't seem worried. He knew he should be, Ed could kill him at any minute, but he was calm and he knew he'd be reunited with Andrea.

He just hoped it would be soon.

* * *

Two days had passed and Phillip returned with no news of Milton. Andrea held her tears back and tried to go back to the conversation she was having with Axel and Oscar. They had changed out of their orange jumpsuits and now wore normal clothes.

"I'm sorry," Phillip whispered to her before he walked out of the diner.

Axel and Oscar had been by her side since Milton's disappearance. They had shown that, despite being in jail before the outbreak, they were good men. Now, they seemed worried and Axel kept looking over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Andrea asked, hoping it was something that would get her mind off her missing boyfriend.

Axel looked fearful when he looked over at Oscar. "I think I just saw Tomas and Andrew walk by."

At the mention of the two names, the large black man whipped around to stare out of the large window in the front of the diner.

"I don't see anything," he said. "But if they're here, that means Buck is, too. Shit."

"Buck?" Andrea looked between the two men, a sick feeling in her gut. "Buck, who?"

Oscar was the one to answer. "Buck Dixon. Cruelest mother fucker I have ever met."

Andrea's blood turned to ice and the fork she held in her hand clattered to the table.

* * *

Shane watched as Michonne climbed out of the car in front of him and walked to his side of the SUV. With the addition of him and Michonne, they had needed another vehicle to drive around in. Things were getting too cramped in the two vehicles they had and, much to the sword-wielding woman's dismay, they had decided to leave the semi behind. Now, they had Hershel's blue truck, the SUV and a black Dodge Avenger they had found on the part of highway they had all met up at.

Shane had wanted that car, but Michonne had claimed it first. Carol, Glenn and T-Dog had all filed in before he could even get in a word. So, without a choice, he drove in the same vehicle as Rick, Lori, Marc and Sharon. Hershel and his truck, which held Beth, Maggie, Merle and Daryl, led the small convoy and he wondered why they stopped.

"Merle found another truck he wants to drive," Michonne answered his unspoken question. "Bet he's getting tired of the old man's stories." She flashed him a sliver of a smile before returning to her car.

He was glad that she had decided to stick around. He had been afraid that she would have gone off on her own once she had seen the number of people that were in Rick's group. He was glad to see that she had also decided that she needed people now.

When another vehicle roared to life and Merle's laughter filled the air, he knew that the Dixon's plan for another car had worked. Shane watched as they drove past in a fairly new looking green ford pickup. From his spot in the driver's seat, he could see Merle behind the wheel, Maggie next to him and Daryl in the backseat.

He briefly wondered why Carol wasn't with them.

* * *

That night, they had been unable to find a place to camp for the night, so they had to camp outside. They formed a circle with the four vehicles and gathered in the middle. Blankets were distributed, but there wasn't enough for fourteen people. Some would have to share.

Rick and Lori, Merle and Maggie, Sharon and Marc, and Hershel and Beth all had a blanket to share. That left Michonne, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, Carol and Daryl without one and they only had four blankets left.

Michonne grabbed one and with a roll of her eyes, motioned for Shane to follow her. Glenn and T-Dog each grabbed their own. Carol and Daryl were left with one blanket. Carol held it in one hand and looked over at him. Her gaze was hopeful, but he avoided it and stalked to Merle's truck to open the door and hop in. Completely dismissing the question she had silently asked with her eyes.

Tears pricked her eyes as she watched him walk away from her. It had been two days and he hadn't spoken to her once and had barely even looked at her.

"You all right?" Maggie was suddenly there, concern written all over her face. Merle hovered behind, but his gaze wasn't on her but on the truck Daryl had escaped too.

"I'm fine, Maggie." She smiled and hoped it looked convincing. "Just a little tired."

The older woman didn't look like she believed her. "If you're sure, then I'll leave you to get some sleep. If you're not, Merle and I have first watch, so I'll be up if you need to talk."

Carol nodded and quickly hurried away. She didn't want to involve them in her problems. Not now. It had been all her fault. If she had stayed put when Daryl had told her to, if she hadn't ran off to help, then she would be snuggled against his side right now. They would be together and happy, not apart and not speaking.

But no, she had to be stupid. She had to ruin everything.

Settling down close to her dad and step-mom, she covered herself with the blanket and turned to the side. Something in her pants dug into her thigh and reached down to take it out.

It was the black velvet box with the ring in it. The same ring that Daryl was about to propose to her with only a few days ago.

A few days ago, he wanted to marry her and now he could barely stand the sight of her.

* * *

**Don't worry, things will be getting better for our favorite couple sometime in either the next chapter or the one after that! :) I have that one mostly planned out, so hopefully you all won't have to wait that long for it!**

**Thanks for reading!**


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